The Hawks will play the Cats in a Friday night qualifying final at the MCG, having faced the real prospect of finishing in sixth spot and having to survive a series of sudden-death finals to win their fourth consecutive flag.

The make-up of the top eight came down to the final stages of the game against the Pies, who led by a goal with two minutes 23 seconds to play.

FINALS WEEK ONE

FIRST ELIMINATION: West Coast (6) v Western Bulldogs (7)
Domain Stadium - Thursday, September 8, 8:10pm (AEST)
FIRST QUALIFYING: Geelong (2) v Hawthorn (3)
MCG - Friday, September 9, 7:50pm (AEST)
SECOND QUALIFYING: Sydney (1) v Greater Western Sydney (4)
ANZ Stadium - Saturday, September 10, 3:20pm (AEST)
SECOND ELIMINATION: Adelaide (5) v North Melbourne (8)
Adelaide Oval - Saturday, September 10, 7:40pm (AEST)

Jack Fitzpatrick, promoted for his first game in Hawthorn colours after ruckman Jon Ceglar's season-ending knee injury, was the Hawks' hero.

The former Melbourne player kicked a goal from the edge of the centre square with two minutes to go, before Paul Puopolo rushed a behind with 46 seconds on the clock.

Hawthorn had needed to win or draw the game to secure third spot, while a loss would have pushed them into an elimination final against the Western Bulldogs.

They will now play the second-placed Cats in one of the two qualifying finals, the only game set to be played in Melbourne on the opening weekend of the finals.

Minor premier Sydney will play Greater Western Sydney in the Giants' finals debut at 3.20 on Saturday September 10 – a game that shapes as perhaps the most significant ever to be staged in the Harbour City.

The Hawthorn win means the Western Bulldogs must make a second trip to Perth in three weeks, where they will play the in-form West Coast in a Thursday night elimination final to open the finals.

Adelaide will play North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on the Saturday night in the other sudden-death game, having toppled from the top-four after their loss to the Eagles last Friday night.

Clarkson praised his side's resilience in the final five minutes against a Magpies team with nothing to lose, but said they had lots to work on ahead of their first final.

The Hawks expect to regain Ben McEvoy, a late withdrawal on Sunday because of some lower back soreness.

"We'll look at some things over the course of the next week or 10 days and get ourselves ready for a red-hot Cats side," Clarkson said.

"They were pretty impressive yesterday. We'll have to play a bit better than what we did today.

"If the two teams play to the form they did this weekend, it's going to be pretty hard to knock off the Cats.

"But it's a different weekend, different game, different opposition, so we'll see how we go."

Clarkson said the Hawks had secured their goal at the start of the season in booking another top-four finish.

"We got what we set out to achieve at the start of the year and that was a top-four position and the double chance," he said.

"In the context of the whole home and away, to go 17 and five and cope with the ins and outs of a home and away series has been really pleasing for us.

"We give ourselves a chance in the next four weeks playing against some high-quality opposition.

"We're of  the view that any side in the top eight is a dangerous opposition. On any given day they could play some outstanding footy.

"It's harder from fifth to eighth but that doesn't meant it can't be done, particularly this year where there's a little bit of a curve ball in terms of the amount of rest some of the top-four teams might have."