THERE was something very different about Hawthorn's latest visit to Launceston.

It didn't feel quite as homelike as usual.

Where usually there is nothing but passionate support for those in the brown and gold, the love was not as strong this time around.

In fact, there was the rare sounds of booing around the stadium when they entered it, and when things went their way, thanks to the umpire.

And the Collingwood chant in the final quarter was quite simply deafening.

But, when you have another big dog in town like the Magpies, you should expect it.

The other difference was, they lost for the first time at Aurora Stadium since the preseason of 2013, going down 17.14 (116) to 2.8.6 (72) in front of a NAB Challenge crowd of 15,422 after an arm-wrestle of a first three quarters.

It was normal transmission early, with the Hawks kicking three of the first four goals, with Ben McEvoy clunking two big marks and converting.

With Sam Mitchell among the Hawks running amok, it looked like a long night for the black and white.

But they quickly applied the pressure all over the ground to kick the last four goals of the term to take a 14-point lead into quarter time.

Two very early goals to comeback kid Jed Anderson and first-gamer James Sicily (a nine-point super goal) put the Hawks back in the ascendancy.

But when ruckman Brodie Grundy acted more like a rover and Jesse White continued his strong night to slot his second, the Pies again had the breathing space they would take into half-time.

Pressure was again the buzz word for the Pies in the third, throwing themselves into everything, with Alex Fasolo's strong pack mark and conversion an example of this.

When former Roo Levi Greenwood converted from a free kick, Collingwood's lead was 20 points, and the Hawks hadn't looked close to scoring.

But pretty much as soon as that margin was established, Mitchell chimed in with a one step super goal and Luke Breust snapped truly and it was suddenly just five.

A goal-line major from Corey Gault then allowed the visitors to go into the final change leading 0.10.10 (70) to 2.6.5 (59).

Gault doubled up straight away at the start of the final term, a sign of things to come as Collingwood would kick the next five thanks to Fasolo, Jamie Elliott, Jordan De Goey and two from Patrick Karnezis on its way to a 44-point win.

Taylor Adams and stand-in skipper Steele Sidebottom [23 touches each] led the stats count for the winners, while Tom Langdon, Marley Williams and Ben Kennedy were also prominent, with Nathan Brown leading a strong defence.

Fasolo [4.0], Karnezis [3.1], White [2.2] and Gault [2.1] formed a dangerous front-half, while new recruits Greenwood, Travis Varcoe, Jack Crisp and no.5 draft pick De Goey all did some nice things.

Mitchell was his evergreen best with 27 touches for the Hawks, while Anderson was impressive with 26 and Will Langford and stand-in-skipper Liam Shiels had 24 each.

McEvoy kicked 3.0, Breust 2.0 and Jack Gunston 2.1.

The Hawks, who already went in minus premiership stars such as Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Brian Lake and Cyril Rioli, cut Jarryd Roughead, Josh Gibson, Jordan Lewis, Bradley Hill and Paul Puoplo from their initial squad.