A header from Jack Gunston with 17 seconds left on the clock gave the Hawks a one-point victory in an Easter clash at the MCG between two formidable rivals.
The veteran managed to throw his boot on the ball in a mad scramble in the goal area with the goals level after Mitch Lewis scored with 51 seconds left.
The cats seemed to win the game after leading by 13 points in the middle of the last quarter in a tie-breaking match where 11 points was the biggest difference up to that point.
Geelong then took the lead after Shannon Neale kicked his fourth goal with less than two minutes remaining, but the Hawks were not to be denied.
They managed to get the ball back down to Lewis who marked and showed great courage to shoot directly after Mabior Chol seemed to blow their chances with two missed shots late in the set.
Jack Ginnivan may have been the showman, but he was outstanding and had worked as hard at both ends as Smith throughout the match before putting Hawthorn ahead at the three-quarter whistle with his second goal.
He was strong defensively when needed and looked dangerous inside 50, using his smarts to disrupt Geelong’s attacks on several occasions in a desperate second quarter when the Cats threatened to blow the game by seven goals.
But they were unable to break the rope Hawthorn had tied around their ankles with a lead of no more than 11 points until Mark Blicavs stretched the lead to 13 points with nine minutes remaining.
But Easter long weekends are not just peter out these days. They need to be played to the bitter end and that was the case as Nick Watson scored his second late goal of the match and then Mabior Chol pulled them back to a point with seven minutes remaining.
There were 84,712 roaring at the top as the Hawthorn supporters felt the completion of the free kick was 22-11 to the Cats.
One was going to be a hero, or not. Mabior Chol twice threatened to be the hero but missed the kicks. The first one was straight ahead and the second was a snap shot that went out.
Blicavs then missed a good chance before Jeremy Cameron scored one to level the scores.
It was Neale and Lewis and then Gunston at the back and the match was decided in favor of one team as the Hawks broke a five game losing streak against Geelong and won their third game of the year.
Easter can now officially be over.
