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Veteran goal sneak Luke Breust kicked three majors and helped Hawthorn snatch a thrilling draw with AFL flag fancies Melbourne.
A goal to Luke Breust in the final minute of play has given rank outsiders Hawthorn a share of the points in a thrilling AFL draw with flag fancies Melbourne.
The 17th-placed Hawks trailed by 27 points during the second quarter and looked gone for all money against the near unbackable ladder leaders.
But the Demons were ultimately left to rue missed opportunities in the 11.13 (79) to 12.7 (79) draw, played in front of empty stands at the MCG amid Victoria's COVID-19 lockdown.
Angus Brayshaw and Kysaiah Pickett both had set shots in the final few minutes that could have put Melbourne out of the Hawks' reach before veteran goal sneak Breust pounced at the other end.
Both sides were desperate but neither could manage to register a score in the dying stages after the next centre bounce.
"There's enormous satisfaction for us (but) I wouldn't think there'd be too much satisfaction in the Demons' camp," Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said.
"We're a young side coming up against the top side, we gave them a head start ... for us to get ourselves back into the contest and give ourselves a real chance to win late in the game was a real credit to our boys.
"We were really proud of our lads tonight."
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin could not hide his disappointment in his side's performance, conceding Hawthorn were "hungrier and worked a bit harder than us".
"We've got some pretty high expectations of how we'd like to play," Goodwin said.
"Our intensity and urgency in the areas that we really want to build our footy club on probably weren't to the level, even though the numbers looked good.
"Hawthorn certainly out-tackled us but they (also) outworked us in the scrimmages and the areas that we really value.
"We had opportunities but we didn't play the way we wanted to play for long enough."
Melbourne's starting on-ballers Christian Petracca (33 disposals and nine clearances), Clayton Oliver (34 disposals and eight clearances) and Jack Viney (32 and six) all racked up big numbers.
Petracca also had 23 contested possessions, while Bayley Fritsch kicked three goals and Pickett two.
But it was the plucky Hawks who were arguably more impressive, taking it up to their highly-rated opponents in a spirited display.
They dominated the tackle count 81-58, with 402-game veteran Shaun Burgoyne (10) leading the way.
Tom Mitchell (39 disposals), James Worpel (29) and Jaeger O'Meara (24) were also influential and versatile tall Tim O'Brien limited Tom McDonald to just one goal from 10 touches.
Breust kicked three goals and tall forward Mitchell Lewis added two in his first game back from several weeks on the sidelines through a concussion sustained in a boxing incident at training.
