MY ULTIMATE Hawthorn premiership team is shaped much less by statistical analysis than it is by certain happy memories that are planted forever in my 27 year-old mind.

For that reason, greats of the 1960s, ‘70s and early ‘80s are no doubt under-represented in this line-up.

View Matthew's full team, and select your own, here →

That club legends Peter Hudson and Peter Knights can find places only as emergencies will be seen as disgraceful by many - make that most - brown and gold experts.

But every team needs balance, and a forward line containing Hudson, Lance Franklin, Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton would be far too key position-centric.

How then could I leave out Buddy, who has given me so many jump-out-of-your-seat-with-joy moments over the past few years? It would be an act of extreme disloyalty.

How could I omit Dermott, whose famous act of courage in the 1989 Grand Final instilled in me a fierce love of beating Geelong?

So Mr Hudson, with the utmost respect and the sincerest of apologies, I can't find a spot for you.

Come to the ground ready to play though - you might get a late call-up.

Five 2008 premiership players will run out in my 22, two of them on the bench.

Of those, Stewart Dew is the eyebrow raiser.

But I reckon plenty who were there on that warm September afternoon, hugging strangers around them as 'Dewy' tore the match from Geelong's grasp, will have picked him too.

A couple of childhood favourites in Ben Allan and Darren Jarman, who both broke Dunstall's heart when they took their sublime kicking skills back to their home states, were easy selections.

Andy Collins' number four was the first I ever wore on my back.

That he later rendered my Hawks jumper irrelevant by changing to number five didn't cost him a spot in my team's back pocket.

Darrin Pritchard slots in on a back flank, thanks largely to his brilliant performance in the '89 classic.

If not for one G. Ablett, 'Pritch' surely would have had a Norm Smith to go with his premiership medallion that day.

And Paul Dear was the second-best thing at Waverley Park in 1991 after Angry Anderson screaming 'Bound for Glory' on the batmobile, so he slips in as back-up ruckman to Don Scott.

Sentiment says the choice of coach should sway towards the late, great Allan Jeans.

But I've gone against the flow on this one.

John Kennedy Snr turned Hawthorn from a cellar-dwelling rabble into the super-power it became.

He also coined that outstanding phrase, "Don't think, Do!", which I adopted as my approach to the difficult task of selecting this team.

* Matthew Miller (not his real name) is a 27 year-old Hawks fanatic who attended the 1991 and 2008 Grand Finals, and has worn out his video of the 1989 decider.