Hawthorn vice-captain Dylan Moore has detailed the wild third quarter against GWS on Saturday when the Hawks 'felt the full force of the tsunami'.
The visitors started well at ENGIE Stadium, building a 28-point lead at halftime which then stretched to 42 points in the third quarter as the Hawks appeared set to cruise to victory.
That's when the Giants suddenly awoke, with substitute Josh Kelly dominating as the Sydneysiders slammed through six consecutive goals to draw within a kick with one quarter remaining.
A Jesse Hogan goal and a Jake Stringer point early in the fourth then put GWS in front before Hawthorn steadied, kicking the last three goals of the game for a 19-point victory.
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“It was actually pretty crazy,” Moore told SEN Fireball. “A few of us after the game were like ‘we felt the full force of the tsunami’.
“Their big players stepped up and absolutely dominated that second half of the third quarter.
“It kind of felt hopeless out there. It was like ‘we don’t know what to do’. They got the run-on and it was really hard to stop.
“Three-quarter time came at a good time, we could just settle down and go again. We had some positivity at three-quarter time, we were still up by a goal.
“We wanted a close final, we expected this, this is fine. Credit to the boys, we came in the last quarter and did well.”
Despite that shocking run in the third quarter, the Hawks brought a tremendous attitude to a venue they had never won at in eight previous attempts.
Moore said skipper Jame Sicily got the side in the right frame of mind before the opening bounce.
“Occasionally he’ll really rev you up and get you motivated,” Moore said.
“It was all about that we haven’t had a big win away from home and that’s we needed.
"We needed to show that we can win away from home and to do that we needed to kind of fake it in a way with our connection and go over the top and overboard.
“We’ve lacked a bit of soul away from home recently and ‘Sis’ was like ‘Nnah, this is what we need to do today. Even if you’re not feeling it and it’s not you, you’ve just got to get it out’.