HAWTHORN has achieved one of the rarest feats in footy.

After making a dismal 0-5 start to the season, the Hawks reeled off 14 wins from 18 games, sealing a finals spot with a 124-point thrashing of North Melbourne on Saturday.

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The turnaround has been enormous.

The Hawks became just the third team in VFL/AFL history – and the second since 2000 – to make the finals after losing their first five games of the season.

The only other team to achieve the feat in the top eight era was Sydney in 2017.

That Sydney side fell to 0-6 that year and then won 14 of their final 16 home and away games to finish sixth on the ladder, before thrashing Essendon in an elimination final.

Their run came to an end the following week in a heavy loss to Geelong.

In VFL/AFL history, only one other team has made the finals after starting 0-5, and that was Collingwood in 1959.

In a 12-team competition, the Magpies remarkably finished 12-6, but bowed out without winning a final.

But in an era where only the top four teams played finals after an 18-game home and away season, the achievement of that Magpies side will probably never be topped.

The Swans of 2017 also had only 22 games in the regular season to recover from their horror start, while the Hawks had 23.

For the Hawks, a 53-point loss to Gold Coast in round five – labelled by coach Sam Mitchell as "completely unacceptable" – proved to be the turning point.

Since then, they have lost just four games – the fewest in the competition – including giving up late leads in tight losses to Port Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney.

Now, they shape as being arguably the most dangerous team this September.