#52: Finals week 3 2008, live on Talkshoe
The Saints and Dogs have survived the repechage so it’s onwards and upwards to the bronze medal playoff for them! Go for bronze, boys! (Who says Hawks fans are arrogant?)
When we get onto talking about this week’s prospects for Finals Dream Team, we start once again with the backlines. Corey Enright, Andrew Mackie and Darren Milburn are all fine prospects, as are Luke Hodge, Grant Birchall and Brent Guerra from the Hawks. Hard to go past Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher and Jason Gram from St Kilda, while Jason Blake, Raphael Clarke and Lindsay Gilbee are all discussed in detail.
Onto the midfield, and it’s very hard to go past the Cat triumvirate of Gary Ablett jnr, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey… and not many will be leaving them out! Cameron Ling and Joel Selwood are even putting in strong cases to be the fourth Cat picked in your engine room. The Hawks are more even, with Sam Mitchell, Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis, Clinton Young, Michael Osborne and Chance Bateman all vying for selection, while at the Saints there are also good reasons to pick Nick Dal Santo, Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna. Molly isn’t so hot on the Dogs though, with Daniel Cross, Matthew Boyd, Adam Cooney and Ryan Griffen all likely to struggle.
In the rucks, Brad Ottens will probably score the best of the lot, but can you find a spot for him among your six allowed Geelong players? The media are talking up Robert Campbell to play back this week, which would mean the selection battle between Simon Taylor and Brent Renouf would take on a new dimension. Justin Koschitzke is always a fantasy factor, while Molly argues the toss for Will Minson to be a stronger prospect this week than Ben Hudson.
There are plenty of choices to be had in the forwards this week, but only seven spots you can fill. Steve Johnson and Cameron Mooney have to be considered from Geelong with Mathew Stokes and Tom Lonergan also possibles. For the Hawks it is almost illegal not to pick Lance Franklin, while Jarryd Roughead, Stuart Dew and Cyril Rioli are selectable too. Apart from Nick Riewoldt it’s difficult to build a case for Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider outside the Dome. Finally, at the Bulldogs, Brad Johnson, Daniel Giansiracusa, Robert Murphy, Jason Akermanis, Josh Hill and Mitch Hahn all have claims.

Phillip "Molly" Malone is one of the most prolific Web pundits on Aussie Rules footy with his blog Mollyzine and podcast Molly's Monday Machination. He's an engineer and a Hawk fan, and you'll see his name everywhere.

