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Sorry in advance to all you Cat fans out there, but m0nty and Molly are PUMPED and STOKED about the Hawks playing in the Grand Final, so apologies for all the badmouthing they are about to do to your beloved boys. Before they start on the Finals Dream Team analysis, Molly takes a sidetrack into talking about going to training and, among other things, whether he learns anything for his fantasy coaching.

Onto the position-by-position breakdown, then. First it’s the backs, where it’s pretty hard to go past Andrew Mackie, Darren Milburn, Corey Enright, Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall. As to who the seventh back spot will go to, that’s a little harder. Xavier Ellis is a decent choice but he may not even play, depending on team structure. Thomas Murphy, dropped last week but with a good job on Stevie J from the round 17 clash with Cats under his belt, is a chance to replace Ellis in both the Hawks team and some fantasy teams. Campbell Brown got in five scoring shots against Geelong in that R17 clash so he’s a big chance to score highly again. Tom Harley is a chance, as is Matthew Scarlett who scored a DT ton in last year’s grand final. Max Rooke could be the new Mark Yeates but he could also have a decent fantasy day following Hodge around.

In the midfield, obviously it’s impossible to go past the “ABC” combo of Gary Ablett jnr, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey, but after that it gets a little more difficult. Sam Mitchell and Brad Sewell did some of the best clearance work of their careers against the Saints in the prelims, but they’ll have stiffer opposition this week, especially Mitchell in the form of Cameron Ling. Joel Selwood is also going to be found under a lot of packs. Meanwhile on the outside, Clinton Young’s finals campaign has been faultless from a fantasy viewpoint, while Jordan Lewis has been good for the past couple of months. Chance Bateman and Michael Osborne have also had excellent finals series, though not always getting full value on fantasy scoreboards. Finally, James Kelly had a DT ton last time these teams met and can’t be forgotten.

Among the rucks, Brad Ottens is a lock but Molly argues that the other three can be tossed up: Robert Campbell, Mark Blake and whoever gets picked out of Brent Renouf and Simon Taylor are much of a muchness.

In the forwards, it’s harder to find “locks”. Lance Franklin should be a lock but last week’s performance is worrying. Jarryd Roughead has done well against the Cats and is coming off a DT hundred so he’s pushing strongly for lock status. It turns out that Cameron Mooney has a very poor recent record against the Hawks, and against Trent Croad in particular, so he’s no certainty, while Tom Lonergan is rumoured to be the “out” for Paul Chapman (though m0nty is way down on Chapman’s prospects). Travis Varcoe had his best game for the season in the prelim but has pulled up sore during the week, removing the lock on his place in the Geelong 22. Mathew Stokes and Stevie J are probably the safest Cats, albeit Stokes’ scoring hasn’t been great since returning from injury. Cyril Rioli looks better and better when all of the question marks over other forwards are considered, while Molly also has a soft spot for Stuart Dew.

In the captaincy choices, again it’s hard to pick against ABC, but there’s a case to be made for Mackie - especially if you think the cluster is going to stump the Cats - and another one for Franklin or Johnson depending on who you think will win the game.

Good luck to current leader Lewis Nguyen in the Fox Sports competition, which is still going this week under some strange circumstances… it turns out that fielding less than a full 22 might be the key to success this week, as m0nty explains!

This is our last show for the year, so m0nty and Molly spend the last few minutes thanking everyone who made the Coaches Box a success during the year, including all our guests and those on the live Talkshoe chats who made it a fun experience. See you in 2009, and may your fantasy team win every week!