Hawthorn remains in the hunt for a home final after a thrilling upset three-point win over minor premiers Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
The Hawks, for whom best-afield Lance Franklin finished with six goals, scored the last four majors of the match to surge to the line with their noses in front - 15.8 (98) to 13.17 (95).
Collingwood youngster Dane Breams had the chance to win the game for the Pies with a set shot from 30 out, directly in front in the closing seconds after being held off the ball by Brad Sewell.
But Beams tugged his shot left to the despair of the Magpie Army which made up the majority of the crowd of more than 76,000.
The Hawks looked down and out when they trailed by 19 points midway through the final quarter but Jarryd Roughead, who was otherwise totally anonymous on the day, got them rolling with a goal after nabbing Harry O'Brien in possession.
A snap from Rhan Hooper two minutes later made the difference seven points, Clinton Young brought the Hawks within one with a right-foot snap, and Cyril Rioli put them in front moments later with another sensational snap.
The Pies were bidding to go through the second half of the season undefeated and their loss was their first since they surrendered to the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in Round 10.
Franklin was unstoppable on the day one-on-one and his six was a personal-best for the season.
In his milestone 200th AFL match, Josh Fraser managed 28 hitouts, but his afternoon was best defined by a terrible dropped chestmark when miles in the clear which led to a turnover in the second quarter.
It won't help his case to be retained for the club's final campaign ahead of Leigh Brown who's now available after suspension.
Fraser's best prospects of September action may be as a replacement for Darren Jolly, who finished Saturday's match with his head swathed in bandages with a badly broken nose after copping a forearm in the face from Ben Stratton in a marking contest.
Dane Swan will be thereabouts in Brownlow voting after gathering a game-high 34 touches for the Pies while Sam Mitchell was the Hawks' leading ball-winner with 30.
The Magpies had the better of the opening term but could manage just 1.5 from their 14 inside-50s to Hawthorn's 1.1 from eight.
Swan was Collingwood's generator in the midfield with 13 possessions for the term but the Pies' delivery into their attacking 50 was erratic at best.
The dearth of goals in otherwise perfect conditions was a fair indication of the standard of play from both sides - stilted, haphazard and riddled with errors of judgement and skill.
The Pies knuckled down in the second term after conceding the opening two goals of the term to the Hawks through Cyril Rioli and Carl Peterson.
Steele Sidebottom got them going with a super left-foot snap at the 19-minute mark and Jarryd Blair followed up with an opportunist effort scuffed through from the top of the square after a fumble from Brent Guerra.
A late inclusion for Ben Johnson who pulled out with a virus, Leon Davis made it three in a row for the Pies in the shadows of half-time with a trademark roost from hard on the boundary line just outside 50.
The key for Collingwood was their domination of the contested ball - 46 to 26 for the quarter - and the clearances which they won 15-7.
The contest really opened up in the third quarter which produced 12 goals.
At one stage it was the Pies versus Franklin who landed three of the Hawks' six for the term, all from set shots, the best of them a barrel from deep and wide in the right hand pocket at the city end that went through at goalpost height.
Jolly showed how dangerous he can be when allowed to slip forward by scoring two of Collingwood's six.
The Pies raced to a 23-point break midway through the term when Travis Cloke outbodied Josh Gibson to score from 45 out, but thereafter it was literally goal-for-goal.
Franklin scored the all-important opening goal of the final term when he sensationally managed to mark despite being triple-teamed by Ben Reid, Harry O'Brien and Nick Maxwell.
That cut the Magpies' lead to just five points, but within minutes it was back to 19.
Chris Dawes gave the Pies some breathing space when he goaled from a strong grab at the top of the square and 'Neon Leon' made the task tougher for the Hawks with another of his specialties, a dribbler from the impossible angle.
But the Hawks refused to buckle.
HAWTHORN: 1.1, 3.5, 9.7, 15.8 (98)
COLLINGWOOD: 1.5, 4.10, 10.12, 13.17 (95)
GOALS: Hawthorn: Franklin 6, Rioli 2, Peterson, Lewis, Ellis, Whitecross, Hooper, Young, Roughead
Collingwood: Jolly 2, Blair 2, Davis 2, Beams, Sidebottom, Cloke, Ball, Shaw, Dawes, Swan
BEST: Hawthorn: Franklin, Rioli, Burgoyne, Lewis, Ellis, Mitchell
Collingwood: Jolly, Swan, Wellingham, Ball, Blair, Beams, Pendlebury
INJURIES: Hawthorn: Nil
Collingwood: Jolly (broken nose)
REPORTS: Nil
CHANGES: Leon Davis replaced Ben Johnson (virus) in Collingwood's selected side
UMPIRES: Vozzo, Rosebury, Nicholls
CROWD: 76,218 at the MCG