BRIAN Lake couldn't hear the final siren when it rang at the MCG on Friday night. 

He was looking at Brent Guerra, who had suddenly burst into celebration, and was wondering what was going on with Cyril Rioli, who had just marked the ball in the forward half. 

But the Hawthorn defender quickly realised what had happened when the Geelong players around him collapsed to the ground, exhausted and emotionally spent after the Hawks' five-point preliminary final win.  

"I couldn't hear it. I didn't know what was going on," Lake told hawthornfc.com.au. 

"It was a little bit of a blur when I didn't hear the siren but the crowd was deafening, which was unbelievable and something I haven't experienced for a very long time."

For Lake, the feeling of winning a preliminary final is new after he played in three losing ones for the Western Bulldogs from 2008-2010. 

And, the process of the next week, which most of his teammates are familiar with having gone through it 12 months ago, is also a complete unknown.  

"I don't know – I'll have to speak to the guys and the fitness staff on what we have to do," he said. 

"It's a little bit weird. I couldn't tell you much else. Usually for me, it's sitting at home watching it all.

"I'm very excited about it."

The former Bulldog, who crossed to the Hawks on the opening day of trade period last October, admitted things didn't look too good for his new team when they trailed by 20 points going into the final quarter. 

But he heralded the heroic performances of Sam Mitchell and Shaun Burgoyne, who drove the Hawks into next Saturday's Grand Final against Fremantle or the Sydney Swans. 

"Just their efforts to win important one-on-one contests," he said. 

"Burgoyne to go into the middle a bit more to kick some crucial goals really lifted the side.

"We had a lot of players down but when you've got a couple of guys like that to stand up and really contribute, it got us over the line."

Lake has only played in one of the Hawks' 11-straight losses to the Cats.

He said it wasn't a hoodoo that was actively spoken about but he felt like the team simply didn't want to lose another one to the team that has dominated them since the 2008 premiership. 

"You talk about it a little bit but to be honest it was just about winning the game," he said. 

"It was probably easy to say with the 'Kennett Curse' at 20 points down, we turn our toes up but the guys just fought hard and they didn't want to lose.

"Nothing was spoken about. It was just the guys' hunger and them wanting to win the game and get into the Grand Final. 

"They didn't get the chocolates last year so they probably had that little burn inside that they wanted to go one better this year."

Lake said he was looking forward to enjoying the week ahead with the Grand Final parade on Friday a highlight for his three children, Bailee, Cohen and Mylee. 

He said the trio had swapped their red, white and blue jumpers for brown and gold ones, and were already pumped to ride through the streets of Melbourne with their dad. 

"I think the kids are looking forward to the parade. No doubt they'll be excited about that," he said. 

"They didn't come tonight but they're sitting at home watching it and hopefully they're in bed by now but they had their Hawthorn guernseys on today and no doubt they'll be very excited with the week coming up.

"With school holidays, I might have to spend a bit more time at training because they'll be in my hair all the time."

While the excitement in the rooms was obvious after the game, Lake acknowledged the importance of quickly refocusing on next week's challenge. 

"You've got to celebrate good wins like that but that's not our Grand Final," he said.

"We've got another game to worry about, all the guys will be watching tomorrow night, and that's what we've got to put our focuses on.

"There's a lot of work to come."