One could go back to 1987 (yes, I know it's outside the date range given by the OP) when the late great Jim Stynes ran over the mark, gave away a 15 metre penalty and Bucky kicked truly from 40 metres out after the siren to put Hawthorn into its fifth consecutive grand final.
I was at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 preliminary finals and thought Hawthorn would lose each of them.
I really hated the twilight start time for the 2012 preliminary final. Tippett absolutely monstered Schoenmakers and almost put the Crows into the grand final. After leading by 22 points in the third quarter, the Hawks seized up and let the Crows take the lead deep into the last quarter. The Hawks snatched the lead late into the game when Clarkson swung Burgoyne into the middle who won a centre clearance and hit Rioli on the chest, with Rioli kicking truly. But it wasn't over by a long way and it needed a Ben Stratton tackle on Dangerfield as Dangerfield was steaming towards the 50 metre arc to seal the victory.
2013 was probably the best non-grand final game I've ever been to. Hawks had lost 11 in a row, some by less than a kick with shots after the siren. We had plenty of chances to get a comfortable lead but missed a few shots at goal while the Cats nailed theirs (Harry Taylor snapping truly on the run in the third quarter comes to mind). There was also that goal from a ball-in when it should have been a free kick to Hawthorn for OOTB against Geelong. Like many Hawthorn supporters at 3/4 time I thought we were done and Hawthorn would be tarred with the brush of being an all-time choker, having lost the 2012 grand final and then being bounced out by our biggest rival in 2013.
Then Burgoyne stepped up and played the best quarter of his career. From memory, Burgoyne had 11 disposals - all of which were effective - including the goal that put the Hawks in front. The Geelong players probably panicked a little bit because when Hawthorn hit the lead, there were still a couple of minutes left but the Cats let their structures devolve and started bombing it out of defence. The one time they actually thought about their play they got it to Varcoe who missed a snap to level the scores.
I spoke with Brad Sewell some time after the match about his attempt to stop Varcoe. He said that his dive was pure desperation and he didn't think he had a chance of stopping Varcoe.
I also happen to work with Chappy's partner (of course Chapman was suspended for the preliminary final) and she said that Chappy was so angry with what happened that night he didn't sleep at all and ended up starting his mad Monday that Saturday morning at about 4 or 5 in the morning before going to a GDFL grand final the next day.
Being at the ground, nobody in the crowd heard the final siren but boy it was a huge and sweet relief when we worked out that the game was over and Hawthorn had won.
In 2014, Port Adelaide made all the running in the first quarter but couldn't hit the broad side of the barn with their shots on goal. Hawthorn took advantage of their shots and were lucky to trail only by 12 points at quarter time. Port had had 12 scoring shots but kicked 3.9. Had they kicked 9.3 or even 6.5.41, it would probably have been a different outcome. Hawthorn then kicked six goals to two in the second quarter and led by 11 points at half-time. The Hawks kicked five goals to three in the third quarter and led by 23 points at 3/4 time. Then the Hawks stopped thinking about the task at hand and instead started thinking about the grand final and the Power came roaring back in the last quarter. Then Hodge won a free kick.
For the sheer enormity of the situation and what was at stake given the binary outcome of winning versus losing, I would have the 2013 preliminary final as the best preliminary final I've attended.
To be honest, I much preferred the 2008 preliminary final against St Kilda when the Hawks led by a lot at half-time (47 points) and it was virtually certain that Hawthorn would be in the grand final. Made for a much more comfortable night at the footy.