The Magpies ignored the controversy over coach Mick Malthouse's quarter-time spat with St Kilda's Stephen Milne last Friday night to hand the Hawks their third straight loss, 17.21 (123) to 8.11 (59).
It was their first triumph over the Hawks since 2006 and came as a result of ferocious pressure and tackling intensity.
Led by Steele Sidebottom (27 touches) and Heath Shaw (26), the Pies were clearly intent on making a statement after their performance against St Kilda.
Having kicked 4.17 against the Saints, the efforts of Leon Davis and Dale Thomas (three goals each) and Alan Didak (two) went a long way to ensuring the Pies a more productive score this week.
"We had a pretty good contribution across the board. I don't think it was one division," coach Mick Malthouse said.
"I don't think you can beat Hawthorn or St Kilda or the Dogs … unless you have pretty good contributions.
"I haven't seen the video of the game ... but I would be very surprised if we didn't just have more than the senior players playing well."
Meanwhile, the Hawks' stars were few and far between. Already without Buddy Franklin and Josh Gibson, they needed more than Luke Hodge and Chance Bateman to stand up.
The loss was compounded by injuries to captain Sam Mitchell and Xavier Ellis. Mitchell sat out the last quarter with an apparent hamstring/back problem while Ellis was concussed after colliding with Travis Cloke's knee.
Coach Alastair Clarkson said afterwards Mitchell had simply been "crunched" and wasn't injured despite the skipper icing his groin and having his hamstrings worked on, while Ellis was fine and expected to play next week.
He also said goal sneak Cyril Rioli was not suffering from a debilitating groin injury even though he appeared ginger and spent plenty of time on the bench.
By half time, the Pies' intensity had locked the ball in their attacking arc for a better part of the game.
More importantly, they had managed a 46-point lead and restricted the Hawks to just 2.8 for the half.
It was a big enough lead for the Pies to survive another period of inaccurate kicking that saw them slot 2.11 in the third quarter.
It was enough to prompt Malthouse to again lament his players' inaccuracy but deny the speed of the game had affected their ability to score.
While the Hawks broke even in the clearances, the Pies applied incredible pressure when they won the ball.
With 76 tackles to the Hawks' 45, the Magpies were out for blood from the word go.
After allowing the Pies to build a 29-point lead in the first, the Hawks pegged goals on either side of quarter time to climb within 16 points.
But a goal to Cloke - his second attempt within a minute - kick-started a five-goal surge that gave his side handy half-time buffer.
The second half saw Dane Swan (34 touches) stamp his authority on the contest while Shaw blew out any cobwebs he had from his one-week absence to provide with the side with some strong running off half-back.
Ruckman Darren Jolly ended with 18 hit-outs and two goals, which prompted Malthouse to label his performance as "very good".
Collingwood 5.3 10.6 11.11 17.21 (123)
Hawthorn 1.4 2.8 4.9 8.11 (59)
GOALS
Collingwood: Davis 3, Thomas 3, Didak 2, Jolly 2, Cloke, Macaffer, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Swan, Wellingham
Hawthorn: Morton 2, Bateman, Brown, Lewis, Peterson, Roughead
BEST
Collingwood: Sidebottom, Thomas, Shaw, Davis, Swan, Pendlebury, Didak, Maxwell, O'Brien
Hawthorn: Bateman, Hodge, Renouf, Birchall
INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Hawthorn: Mitchell (hamstring/back), Ellis (concussion)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Rosebury, McInerney
Official crowd: 67,668 at MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
