Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson declared his surging has to improve to be an AFL title contender, after a stirring second half fightback secured them a top four spot with a nine-point win over Sydney.
The Hawks trailed by 19 at halftime, but kicked nine goals to four in the second half to win 12.11 (83) to 10.14 (74) and record a sixth straight win at the SCG on Saturday.
The Swans suffered two blows before the game with stars Lance Franklin and Luke Parker both pulling out with groin strains.
Sydney inched ahead by nine points in the final quarter, but the Hawks kicked the last three goals of the game through Harry Morrison, Jordan Henderson and Luke Breust to secure the precious win.
"We've worked really hard, as a club, we give ourselves an opportunity to see how far we can go come September," Clarkson said.
"We're going to need to play better, we're not going to win the title based on what we've done over the last four weeks, we need to find a way to improve."
The loss means fifth-placed Sydney are likely to drop one or two spots depending on the result of Sunday's Melbourne-GWS game at the MCG.
Opportunistic Hawks small forward Paul Puopolo kicked three goals and Henderson and Jack Gunston two each.
Trailing by nine in contested possessions at halftime, Hawthorn were plus 19 in that category in the second half.
"We said to the players at halftime just hang in there because the game will turn," Clarkson said.
"But we did need to get our contested work a little bit better in the second half otherwise we weren't going to be any chance.
"They left us in their wake in the first part of the game and we were able to turn that around in the second half."
Hawthorn's Brownlow Medal favourite Tom Mitchell was contained to nine first half possessions, but finished with 24, the same as his direct opponent George Hewett.
"I thought we played pretty good footy to be honest, I think we had a real go," Swans' coach John Longmire said.
"They ended up having a surge in the third quarter, good teams do that.
"A couple of little errors and didn't kick as accurately as we should have in the second half."
Sydney's trademark pressure was prominent as they dominated the second quarter, slamming on the first four goals and 27 points of the term.
But the tables turned in the third, as the Hawks booted four goals to two and got within one point before ending the term six behind.
Hawthorn then showed greater composure down the stretch, kicking five goals to two in the last quarter.
Jake Lloyd tallied 31 touches for Sydney with Isaac Heney and Tom Papley each kicking two goals, while Liam Shiels led the Hawks possession getters with 26.
