Geelong held Hawthorn scoreless in a gripping final quarter to beat the Hawks by five points in their heavyweight AFL clash at the MCG on Saturday night.

The unbeaten competition leaders won 13.10 (88) to third-placed Hawthorn's 13.5 (83).

It was Geelong's sixth consecutive victory over the Hawks since that team won the 2008 grand final.

Key forward James Podsiadly kicked a career-best six goals for the Cats, all in the first half.

Lance Franklin led Hawthorn's scorers with four majors while rover Sam Mitchell was instrumental in the Hawks surging to a 17-point advantage at three-quarter time.

But the Cats recovered with three unanswered goals in the final term in front of 63,476 fans.

Hawthorn spent most of the final term in defence but a late attacking raid almost produced a win, Franklin going down in a marking contest and Hawks fans outraged he didn't receive a free kick in the last minute.

The Cats dominated the opening term, kicking 5.2 (32) to Hawthorn's 2.1 (13).

Podsiadly scored two goals in the first quarter and was too big and strong in the marking contests for Hawks defender Josh Gibson.

Hawthorn fought back in the second term with five consecutive goals to snatch an 11-point lead.

Remarkably, the Cats then kicked five straight goals in reply, including four from Podsiadly.

When Podsiadly out-marked his new opponent Ryan Schoenmakers and kicked his sixth goal of the half, the Cats were 19 points ahead.

Franklin's third major and a goal after the halftime siren from Brent Renouf -- a late replacement in the selected side for injured ruckman Max Bailey -- reduced Geelong's lead to six points.

Hawthorn used their substitute player Luke Breust in the second quarter as Clinton Young limped off with a suspected hamstring injury.

The Hawks made their big move in the third term as they added 4.3 to Geelong's 0.4.

Hawthorn's work-rate was typified by five-game player Breust who stripped Geelong captain Cameron Ling of the ball and kicked a goal from the free kick which resulted to put Hawthorn 17 points ahead at three-quarter time.

Unable to score a goal in the third term, Geelong kicked three in the first 10 minutes of the last quarter including two to Stevie Johnson to grab a one-point lead.

Hawthorn big man Jarryd Roughead was taken from the field midway through the final term on a motorised cart after suffering a suspected Achilles injury.

Geelong were constantly in attack but couldn't add another goal to seal the match, but were able to hold on with several saving marks in defence.

Geelong boast an 11-0 win-loss record and host play St Kilda next Saturday night at the MCG while Hawthorn host Gold Coast next Saturday in Launceston.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said Roughead was likely to be ruled out for the rest of the season with an Achilles problem.

"It's a disappointing injury for us because he has just been in such good form," Clarkson said.

Clarkson denied he would be phoning umpiring boss Jeff Gieschen in the coming week to complain about Franklin not receiving a free kick in the final minute of the game.

"I don't think it is worth going down that track," Clarkson said.

"The bottom line is we didn't make good-enough decisions with our ball movement."

Cats coach Chris Scott said the loss of Roughead had hurt the Hawks immensely.

He said failing to score a goal in the third quarter had been extremely disappointing.

"When the chips appear to be down, our good players find a way to turn the flow of the game," Scott said of Geelong's last-quarter fightback.

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