What a cracking game, take a bow Wangaratta Rovers and Wangaratta

A bumper crowd of around 3000 saw an enthralling battle with seven lead changes when Boyd snuck forward to run towards an open goal from a tight angle and point-blank range in the 12.12 (84) to 12.9 (81) thriller.

"I was actually off the ground with two minutes to go and when I came on, got thrown forward, so it worked out, thankfully," he said seconds after the siren.

It ranked alongside Yarrawonga's two-point win over Wangaratta in round four as the best match of the opening 10 rounds.

The game had everything - constant pressure, superb individual performances and a touch of niggle between the league's greatest rivals.

"Early on, I thought they had us, but we were able to shift during the game, they were transitioning the ball on us a little too easy and were getting a lot of run from their half-back," Rovers' coach Sam Murray offered.

"We made a switch at half-time to go man-on-man, that's when the game got back on our terms, we really locked them up and took away their ability to run and carry the ball."

There was at least one lead change every quarter, with Wangaratta's biggest lead of 18 points late in the second term, while the Hawks' largest gap was eight points early in the final quarter.

The big question heading into the game was, who was going to stop Wangaratta's Doug Strang Medal leader Callum Moore after 30 goals in the last four games?

Jace McQuade kept him goalless until the 11-minute mark of the final stanza when he plucked the ball from a throw-in and snapped a 20m goal to cut the deficit to two points.

Then with seven minutes left, the sweet kicking Cam Barrett produced a lovely kick to Moore, who marked in front of McQuade and drilled the shot from 45m on a 45 degree angle.

The Pies looked home until Boyd found space and nailed the match-winner.

"I was really proud of our young blokes, we must have had six or seven out there, and proud of our effort, but I felt we should have won in the end," Wangaratta coach Ben Reid explained.

"We just had some fundamental errors at the end of the game, which cost us, and you can't afford to do that against good sides."

Rovers kicked the first goal after Wangaratta had a shot from 40m in front, but was reversed after push and shove.

Ten seconds later, former Carlton player Lochie O'Brien's speed handed Alex McCarthy a chance from 35m.

Boyd produced the mark of the day, towering high over the small frame of Charlie Ross.

Moore had a quiet first three-quarters, but he produced a delightful ruck tap to Hunter Gottschling, who nailed the running shot across his body.

The Pies pushed the lead to 13 points when Rovers' Dylan Stone landed a running 45m shot on the siren.

Two Dylan Wilson goals in the first three minutes handed the Hawks the lead, but a Charley Holland-Dean grubber effort levelled the scores.

In his first game for 78 days and just a day after arriving home from overseas, Mat Grossman was doing superbly in his unfamiliar role of tagging Rovers' most influential player in Murray.

When Gottschling, who was vying for best on ground, produced a tackle and won the free kick, he kicked his second for that three-goal break.

However, in what was to prove an omen later on, Justin Lewis snapped a goal with 20 seconds left in the half to reduce the margin to 11 points.

Rovers kicked 4.2 to 2.2 in the third term to grab a one-point lead, which included a McCarthy shot from 48m off one step after Brodie Filo's quick hands got the Hawks out of trouble.

And strong work by O'Brien and Filo handed McCarthy another chance, who kicked a classy checkside for his third goal.

Moore's moments of magic looked like snapping the match away after McQuade's outstanding effort for the bulk of the match.

"Pretty much (my role was to) just follow him everywhere he goes, he's obviously a great player, so you have to show him a lot of attention," he revealed.

Rovers has struggled to kick goals in a handful of recent games and after dominating inside 50s in the last quarter - 16 to five - it looked like it might again be the Achilles heel, but a couple of critical efforts the Pies would love back in that frenetic final two minutes and a never-say-die attitude from the Hawks proved the difference.

Filo won the 2018 Morris Medal and he could be a contender again through his elite disposal, defenders McQuade, Kieran Parnell, in his first game for five weeks, and Xavier Allison joined McCarthy in the best, while Alex Marklew bounced back to form with three goals.

Laverty also kicked three for the Pies, Gottschling was outstanding in the first half, Grossman was terrific in keeping Murray relatively quiet, while former AFL player Pat Naish had easily his best game and he needed to as well, given their best midfielders in Daniel Sharrock, Brad Melville, Jackson Clarke and Alex Federico were unavailable.

The win went a long way to sealing a top three finish for Rovers, while the Pies are fifth after splitting the 10 games and they must beat top three contenders North Albury and Wodonga in the next two games to have any hope of snaring the double chance.