COLLINGWOOD will go into next week's grand final full of confidence, despite barely scraping past a gallant Hawthorn on Friday night.

The Pies were on the back foot for most of the night before mounting a stirring rally, which Chris Dawes believes will give his team a huge boost going into the premiership decider.

"We should go into next week full of confidence," Dawes said.

"We've probably been the best team for almost two years now. We take a lot of confidence from what we've achieved in these first two finals.

"We've been pushed right the way along by two really quality sides and we're really excited to be playing off this week."

That scenario looked highly unlikely with the Hawks holding a 17-point lead at three-quarter time of a low-scoring contest.  

"We had a lot of faith in what we're capable of doing and producing … that was kind of the message at three-quarter-time - have faith in what we've done for so long and fight it out until the end," Dawes said.

"[When the final siren went] I think it was relief first and then just ecstasy at having won such a tight battle. I think we can afford to pat ourselves on the backs a little but then the focus turns very quickly to getting ourselves right for next week.

"You feel for Hawthorn as well because they pushed us all the way. You can only imagine what it would be like in their shoes."

In his fourth game back from knuckle surgery, Dawes played an important role with three goals - one of which came in the pressure-packed last quarter.

"That's not comparing it too much," he said of his contribution. "I've been in pretty poor form.

"With that said, I have been working hard. It's been frustrating that I haven't had that real polish to my game, so to hit the scoreboard a bit better this week is satisfying to contribute a bit.

"That said I still had some turnovers and that first shot on goal was pretty atrocious. I've got a lot of confidence in my ability to kick set shots, but that first one got caught up in my hand a bit.

"I forgot about that pretty quickly and the next couple of shots I was pretty confident. To be able to do that in the last quarter in that really intense situation is really quite satisfying."