Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge hailed his team's fighting spirit after Nick Coffield's desperate late spoil helped seal a six-point comeback win over Hawthorn in another heart-stopper.

The Bulldogs overturned a 29-point deficit when adding eight goals to one after halftime in the tense 12.5 (77) to 9.17 (71) victory at the MCG on Friday night.

It was the Dogs' fourth win by a single-figure margin in their past five games, and sixth in total this season, while ending a five-match losing streak against the Hawks.

But it wasn't decided until the dying seconds, when Coffield's fist on a Jack Ginnivan pass at half-back thwarted Hawthorn's final attack.

A minute earlier, Hawks forward Mabior Chol's hurried last shot at goal under pressure at a crowded stoppage floated out on the full.

The hard-fought win lifted the Bulldogs (8-5) into fifth spot, just two points behind the third-placed Hawks (8-4-1).

"It was pretty admirable," Beveridge said.

"I'm sure the numbers will say Hawthorn probably should have won the game, but I just thought our back-line was supreme and weathered a pretty big storm all night.

"To keep them to that total in the second half was really significant, and the centre-bounce side of it was really in our favour.

"Every upped the ante and it was great reward for the whole group."

Bulldogs midfielders Marcus Bontempelli (23 disposals, two goals), Ryley Sanders (23 touches) and Ed Richards (28) were all influential in reversing the clearance battle after they had been outpointed in the first half.

So, too, was English, who recovered from an accidental blow to the face from Bontempelli in the first quarter to have a huge impact on the result.

Jordan Croft stood up with three goals in attack, where Cody Weightman (11 disposals) made a successful return after 20 months out with knee issues.

But for the second time in as many rounds it was a low-profile defender who had the final say, with Coffield's spoil following Michael Sellwood's match-saving mark against Collingwood six days earlier.

Sellwood was troubled by Hawthorn livewire Nick Watson (11 touches, three goals) in Friday night's first half, but fought back to blunt his opponent after the main break.

The Dogs defender was a central figure in several melees that littered a fiery contest, while Buku Khamis, James O'Donnell and Bailey Dale were also strong in the back-line.

Chol kicked three goals and Hawks co-captain Jai Newcombe (37 disposals, nine clearances) was everywhere, steering his side to a 27-point lead at halftime.

The Hawks kicked five consecutive goals leading into the main break but managed just 1.11 from that point on, much to the frustration of coach Sam Mitchell.

Ginnivan finished with 0.3 and Lloyd Meek managed just 0.1 from three set shots.

"There was a fair bit of heat in the game and I assume it was a pretty good game to watch," Mitchell said.

"Some of our best footy of the year was played tonight and some of our worst.

"The Bulldogs really took their chances and we weren't able to take ours, so it's disappointing."

Hawks forward Mitch Lewis battled an ankle injury and was controversially denied a mark with three minutes left, when Coffield punched the ball out of his hands at the top of the goal square.

A Hawthorn goal would have reduced the margin to two points with plenty of time remaining.