Hawthorn overcame Sydney by a single goal in Friday night's heated clash, in a showing that please Hawks Coach Alastair Clarkson.
With the usually dominant Lance Franklin held to just one goal, Clarkson said his young defensive unit had made huge strides in the second half of the season.
"Those younger players are growing with confidence and are gaining a strong belief in themselves, great belief in one another and our plan," Clarkson said.
"Our plan is going okay at the moment given we've played some good sides in the last six weeks. We haven't won all of those games but we've been really really competitive in all of them."
The win over the Swans was the Hawks eighth for the season, and while they are still mathematically in contention for finals, it seems unlikely they will be able to finish inside the top eight.
Despite that slim hope, Clarkson said it would not change their plans with the potential returns of injured stars Grant Birchall and Cyril Rioli, with a call to be made on the pair in the next week.
Small forward Paul Puopolo and veteran defender Josh Gibson are set to return in the next fortnight, as is highly prized recruit Jaeger O'Meara.
While defender Ben Stratton has been ruled out of the season after having surgery two days ago on his injured knee.
The Hawks will need to win all four of their final matches, and then rely on other results falling their way, if they are to feature in September.
Clarkson said the side would continue to focus on finishing the season strongly.
"In terms of week to week this is a young group that's gaining some real belief and where it takes us I don’t know," he said.
"We're going to try and continue to win games of footy and the last five or six weeks we've gained enormous belief in one another and that can take you a long way when you've got that so who knows what's going to happen."
The Hawks face Richmond, North Melbourne, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs in their run home.
