"We're not going to cry too much about this loss," Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said.

 

"We didn't play as well as we could have. Fremantle played a pretty good brand of footy.

 

"We just need to focus on next week now and learn from the loss and get on with it."

 

Fremantle remains a win ahead of Port Adelaide in fourth as the jostling for positions heats up.

 

Pavlich entered the match having kicked just two goals in his previous three games.

 

But the 32-year-old veteran wound back the clock in style, taking a series of contested marks and booting some clever snaps to inspire his team to their best win of the season.

"I thought we gave him pretty good supply," Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said.

 

"I thought he played well. It was good response from Matthew."

 

Fremantle suffered a late blow when goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne was ruled out with a hamstring injury, but the return of Michael Walters offset that loss.

 

Walters, playing his first match since round three, booted one goal and set up numerous others, while midfielders David Mundy, Michael Barlow and Stephen Hill were also crucial in the win.

 

Hawthorn midfielder Jordan Lewis finished with 44 disposals and seven clearances, but the defending premiers lacked their usual finesse for much of the match.

 

Nat Fyfe was in the thick of the action in the opening quarter - but mostly for the wrong reasons.

 

Fyfe's off-the-ball hit on Lewis is sure to attract attention from the Match Review Panel, and the 22-year-old was left clearly frustrated a few minutes later when he gave away a 50m penalty for holding Luke Hodge after a mark.

 

Hodge kicked truly from the subsequent kick, and Fyfe cost his side another goal when his off-the-ball niggle with Will Langford gifted Paul Puopolo a shot from point-blank range.

 

Hawthorn posted 11 scores from 15 inside 50s in the opening term, but its waywardness in front of goal kept kept Fremantle in the contest.

 

"We perhaps didn't take our chances early in the game, kicking 4.7 in a period of dominance," Clarkson said.

 

"We perhaps could have had more scoreboard pressure on them by then end of the first quarter which would have helped us."

 

The game turned into a shootout in the second quarter, with Pavlich and Fyfe booting two goals apiece for Fremantle, and Puopolo nailing three for Hawthorn to keep the visitors ahead.

 

Only 19 goals were kicked in last year's grand final.

 

But by the 29-minute mark of the second quarter, 20 goals were already on the board in what had quickly turned into a shootout.

 

The Dockers continued to fire in the second half, but Hawthorn's inaccuracy cost them dearly, with the absence of suspended forward Jarryd Roughead telling.