Calling South East Melbourne the little brother or “little cousin” of Melbourne United is fighting words for fiery Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell.

A new documentary lifts the lid on the NBL’s biggest rivalry, which hit fever pitch during the first Throwdown of last season, thanks to Mitch Creek’s ferocious dunk on Matthew Dellavedova — and Mason Peatling’s resultant shoulder charge on the Phoenix star.

“I don’t like the reference to us as the little cousin, it f**king grinds my gears,” Mitchell said in the documentary NBL22: Next Level.

“I want to fight now. It’s insulting to us.

“We’re our own people, we’re not related to them.”

Mitchell and United coach Dean Vickerman have a long history — they played against each other and coached together — so it’s an interesting dynamic when the pair sits down to chat.

“We’re trying to stand in their way; we’re trying to not let them be the other Melbourne team that won a championship,” Vickerman says.

They’re cordial — even if Mitchell admits he has no love for United.

“I don’t know if it’s animosity, it might be, from our perspective, a bit of jealousy — they’ve got what we want,” he said.

“They’re in our way. I think there’s a genuine dislike from our end.

“They may not respect us enough to dislike us, right now, but I hope it happens soon.”

United has two NBL banners to its name, the most recent of which came through the Phoenix in 2021 in a hard-fought three-game semi final stoush which featured plenty of back and forth, including Creek’s infamous “see you in game three” directed at Peatling.

All the talk of ‘we’ll see you in game three’, like, ‘you will, you did’,” United captain Chris Goulding said.

“We beat them (in NBL21), so we’re the champions, so there’s kind of like what’s the pecking order of the league?

“Well, the people who won the year before, that’s how it is.”