THE EMOTIONAL story of this week's Grand Final is Mick Malthouse, who as has been well documented (there was probably a piece in the Des Moines Register if you look hard enough), finishes up with the Magpies as coach at the end of the season.

Leon Davis also bears watching in the aftermath of Saturday's premiership decider. Earlier this year, Davis suggested a return to his family in Western Australia after the season was on the cards, with Magpie skipper Nick Maxwell adding fuel to that fire in Wednesday's Herald Sun.

"If we happen to win on Saturday that might be it for him," Maxwell told the Herald Sun. "If we don't he might still have that burning desire to win one. Who knows what will happen yet?"

Davis has a patchy Grand Final record. He didn't register a possession in the 2003 Grand Final when the Pies were shellacked by the Brisbane Lions and a poor outing in the drawn Grand Final last season led to his omission from the side for the replay.

Re-invented as an attacking half-back in 2011, he had a brilliant season, culminating in his selection in the All Australian side. But while Maxwell believes this might be his last game for the club, Fox Sports analyst Liam Pickering, who manages Davis has taken a different view.

"The form he is in, and his speed and his ball use, Collingwood want him to continue to play and I think he will and we'll get that deal done and locked away and keep him in Melbourne.

"It's never been about Collingwood (talk of Davis leaving) it's always been about getting home, so that's not the issue at all. I fully expect Leon to be playing for Collingwood next year."

Watch Davis closely after the final siren on Saturday, particularly if the Pies get up. That might reveal something.

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Back on Malthouse and also in the Herald Sun, Mark Stevens has painted a picture of the Malthouse coaching era which spans 28 seasons, once you add his time with Footscray and West Coast into the mix. Doug Hawkins and Terry Wallace laud the work he put in at the Whitten Oval, where the highlight was in 1985 - his second season in charge - when Malthouse led the club into the finals for the first time in nine years. After being belted by Hawthorn by 93 points in the qualifying final, the Dogs lost by just 10 points a fortnight later in the preliminary final.

"We smashed them and for them to be able to turn it around in the space of two weeks to the point where they almost beat us said to me, 'This bloke can coach'," said Wallace, still a Hawthorn midfielder at the time. "He tidied up a few things, tightened up a few match-ups. You don't turn it around like that unless you've got your blokes in the right head space and you know what you're doing."

At West Coast, Malthouse was credited with bringing a touch of professionalism to a side that had a fair bit of talent. He also used alcohol as a carrot, allowing the players a couple of quiet beers on the plane on the way home after a win. Lose, and it was a "dry plane".

After 12 seasons at Collingwood, Malthouse is regarded as much a part of the Collingwood fabric as Jock McHale, Lou Richards and Bobby Rose. But well done to Stevens for reminding us that Malthouse is also revered at other football clubs than the Pies.

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The Age has a look at one of the key battles of the Grand Final, which will pit Geelong key defender Harry Taylor against Travis Cloke, the Collingwood forward who has emerged as one of his side's most important players. Cloke took nine marks and kicked four goals in their first clash, but Taylor has held the edge since then.

Since then, Cloke has been kept goalless in four of the seven matches between the sides. That would suggest that Taylor has enjoyed the upper hand, but in an interview with Samantha Lane, Taylor was at pains to talk Cloke up and rave about his considerable talents.

'He's by far the strongest player that I play on … and his aerobic ability would be in the top three or four as well," Taylor said.

"To do that, at I think 108 kilos, is a remarkable effort. 'He has got this great ability to just hold you off, still watching the ball, and then he'll go off at the ball."

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Away from the Grand Final, there is plenty still happening, with The Age reporting that St Kilda's search for a new coach to replace Ross Lyon is set to step up, with up to 10 candidates to get an interview in the next week.

The usual suspects are there: Rodney Eade, Ken Hinkley, Leon Cameron and Alan Richardson among them. The intriguing new name is Collingwood assistant Scott Watters. Should he bolt from the blue and win the job, it would mean that five of Mick Malthouse's assistants at Collingwood - Nathan Buckley, Guy McKenna, Brad Scott and Mark Neeld being the others - would be working as senior coaches next season.

Quite remarkable.

Also in the same story is a suggestion that Lyon, now coach of Fremantle, might be having a look at bringing Saints defender Zac Dawson and midfielder Farren Ray, back with him to Freo. Both are now out of contract.

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The AFL appears set to gatecrash the opening of the NRL season with the first Sydney derby.
 
The Daily Telegraph reports that the League appears set to agree to a fixture request by Greater Western Sydney to open the AFL season with a one-off clash against the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium. The remaining eight games to open the season will be played the following weekend.

The week before the season is traditionally a rest weekend for the AFL, but so intense will be the battle for the hearts and minds of Sydney's football public, that the League doesn't want to allow rugby league a free hit on opening weekend.

All the game needs now is a name.