After seemingly being headed for the club's 11th wooden spoon since occupying last place from round 10, the Hawks' 16.13 (109) to 13.8 (86) victory was their second in four matches since Donald McDonald took over the coaching reins from Peter Schwab and it also moves them ahead of the Tigers on percentage.
Both teams are now on four wins for the season, Hawthorn 15th on the ladder with a percentage of 71.49 and Richmond 16th with 70.56 per cent.
For Richmond, the misery continues. Winless for more than three months, the Tigers have now lost 13 matches in succession and are now in the box seat to claim the club's first spoon since 1989 and sixth in history.
While the end of the season cannot come quickly enough for both clubs, they each have one last opportunity to avoid claiming the dreaded spoon, with Richmond hosting Sydney at the MCG next Saturday and Hawthorn traveling to Geelong next Sunday.
And although victory for either side would be most unlikely, a narrow defeat could make the difference, if the other match is a blow-out.
The Hawks played inspired football in a seven-goal-to-three first term. It was the first time they had kicked seven goals in an opening quarter since they booted eight against the Tigers in round five last year.
On that day, Hawthorn led by 52 points before a controversial ruck clash between Peter Everitt and Greg Stafford, which left big 'Spida' nursing a fractured cheekbone, turned the game and the Tigers eventually won by 20 points.
But there was no Stafford for Everitt to be worried about on this occasion and the Hawk ruckman was a big thorn in the side of the Tigers early, kicking two first quarter goals from nine possessions.
The Hawks lead stretched out to 31 points following consecutive goals to Robert Campbell and Richie Vandenberg early in the second, but then the rain came and the match turned.
Richmond's running brigade, led by Joel Bowden, Nathan Brown and Wayne Campbell, lifted its work-rate and spearhead Matthew Richardson was a key contributor behind the Tigers kicking the next three goals, with some strong work out of the goal-square.
The Tigers reduced the margin to 13 points at half-time and it was back to single figures when Chris Hyde kicked the first goal after the long break.
But the Hawks successfully bottled the game up, sending numbers behind the ball to clog the space of the dangerous Richardson.
Hawthorn then effectively sealed the game with four of the next five goals, all coming too easily.
When ex-Crow Ben Marsh spilled an easy chest mark inside Richmond's forward 50, the ball was quickly sent down to the other end of the ground and Nathan Lonie capitalised to goal from the crumbs at a ruck contest close to home.
Everitt and Hawk youngster Luke Brennan both then benefited from sloppy Richmond defence, to goal from spilled marking contests in the goal-square.
Only some individual class from Richardson kept the Tigers in touch, but a questionable free kick awarded to Chance Bateman for an alleged push in the back against Jay Schulz, gave the Hawks another scoring opportunity inside 50.
But a 50-metre penalty against Richmond captain Wayne Campbell for back-chatting the umpire made the goal a certainty.
The Tigers outscored the Hawks by four goals to three in the final quarter, but the result was never in doubt.
Speaking after the match, McDonald was pleased to be off the bottom, but believes the race to avoid the spoon is not over.
"Yeah, it's good, but we've got another week to go. There's been a lot of upsets this season and the Tigers have got Sydney next week (which) will be a big game for them," the interim Hawks' coach noted.
"We're probably not out of the woods yet but the positive thing is the players have really worked hard to get themselves back on track again and not just look at the season and say, 'It's been an ordinary season and I'm going to look forward to next year'.
"I reckon it's been really good the way they've just looked at the last five weeks."
Richmond coach Danny Frawley paid tribute to the work of Hawthorn ruckman Peter Everett and felt his team didn't make the most of its chances.
"His dominance in the ruck really did hurt us. (Ben) Marsh and (Ray) Hall tried hard but were beaten purely by class," Frawley said.
"We had some opportunities in the third quarter to capitalise but we didn't really put the score on the board, which is disappointing."
"We've got six days together to go as a group. What we started off in the pre-season hasn't come to fruition so we've got six days as a group to really focus on winning a game of footy next week."
Hawthorn: 7.4, 9.6, 13.10, 16.13 (109)
Richmond: 3.3, 7.5, 9.7, 13.8 (86)
GOALS: Hawthorn: Everitt 3, Bateman, Smith, Lonie 2, Williams, Picioane, Hodge, Brennan, Beaumont, Vandenberg, Campbell 1
Richmond: Richardson 4, Brown, Marsh, Coughlan, Schulz, Nicholls, Krakouer, Weller, Hyde, Tivendale 1
BEST: Hawthorn: Everitt, Croad, Vandenberg, Mitchell, Hodge, Clarke
Richmond: Hartigan, Richardson, Bowden, Brown, Campbell, Chaffey
INJURIES: None
CHANGES: Hawthorn: Holland replaced by Campbell
REPORTS: Zantuck (Richmond) by emergency umpire Dore for rough play on Williams (Hawthorn) in the first quarter
UMPIRES: Coates, Hendrie, K.Nicholls
CROWD: 27,007 at the MCG
