Star forward Lance Franklin kicked four goals despite a knee injury as Hawthorn beat Sydney by 36 points on Friday night to advance to next week's AFL preliminary final.

Leading by 18 points at three-quarter time on Friday night, the Hawks kicked seven goals to Sydney's four in the final term to win 19.8 (122) to 13.8 (86) at the MCG.

The Hawks will play Collingwood at the MCG next Friday night with a spot in the grand final on the line.

Coleman Medallist Franklin, who had been in doubt for the game with bone bruising on his right knee, played with heavy strapping on his troublesome knee and kicked three last-quarter goals to ice the game for the Hawks.

Josh Gibson was his side's best player with 20 possessions and many telling spoils in defence.

Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe and 300-gamer Adam Goodes kicked three goals each and Josh Kennedy had a brilliant game in midfield with 35 possessions and a massive tally of 16 clearances.

The Swans chaired Goodes and retiring Irish-born defender Tadhg Kennelly from the field in front of 55,198 fans.

Midfielder Sam Mitchell and small forward Cyril Rioli, who both had quiet games in last week's loss to Geelong, were influential players for the Hawks in the first half.

The Hawks kicked the first four goals of the game.

After leading by 22 points at quarter-time, the Hawks kicked seven goals to Sydney's four in the second quarter to hold a commanding 40-point advantage at halftime.

Paul Puopolo kicked three first-half goals for the Hawks.

Sydney subbed Dan Hannebery off in the third quarter after the 20-year-old dislocated his shoulder for the second successive week.

The Swans produced a remarkable fightback in the third quarter as they kicked 5.5 to Hawthorn's 2.1 to narrow the margin to three goals at the final change.

Trailing by 46 points midway through the third term, the Swans kicked four consecutive goals including a spectacular mark and goal from Gary Rohan, who also set up another for O'Keefe.

Both sides kicked an early goal in the final term before goals to Jordan Lewis and Franklin gave the Hawks some breathing space as they took a 31-point lead.

But the Swans refused to give up with two consecutive goals to O'Keefe and Goodes before Franklin's third and fourth goals sealed the result, followed by further goals to David Hale and Matt Suckling.

"We weren't too sure if 'Buddy' (Franklin) was going to get up so that was the big question for the week," Rioli, who had 20 touches, told Triple M Radio after the game.

"I think the backline really set us up with 'Gibbo' (Gibson) back there," he said of Hawthorn's win.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said Franklin had been extremely confident of playing as far back as last Saturday when scans cleared him of major damage to the knee.

But Clarkson wasn't convinced until Thursday.

"We were really pleased with the contribution that he made," Clarkson said.

"We had a lot of blokes down last week (against Geelong).

"We had a lot of proud boys who wanted to correct themselves a little bit with their performances today and we did that."

Clarkson said he was confident his side could be competitive against the Magpies who finished on top after the home-and-away season.

"We know that Collingwood have been in outstanding form," he said.

"But at the start of the game she is zero zero and we will give it a crack."

Swans coach John Longmire said his side had lost the game in the first half when they were outscored by 40 points.

"We were slow to get going," he said.

"We showed enormous character to get back into the game in the third quarter but we hadn't done it early enough.

"We had to exert too much energy in that third quarter."

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