Lenny Hayes in the clear

St Kilda's star midfielder Lenny Hayes will take his place in the Saints' line-up for the club's must-win semi-final clash with Collingwood on Saturday night after the Match Review Panel (MRP) cleared him of any wrongdoing in an incident involving Geelong's Joel Selwood.

The MRP found: "As Hayes was falling to the ground, he instinctively threw his left arm around to grab at Selwood, in an attempt to stay on his feet. The action was deemed to be a grabbing motion and not a striking motion."

Hayes was the Saints' best player in their heavy qualifying final loss to Geelong on Sunday, with most pundits at the time predicting he could be suspended for the third-quarter clash with 2007 Rising Star Selwood.

The news comes as a major relief for St Kilda, which is hoping to regain injured midfielder Luke Ball (hamstring), although he is a self-declared 50/50 chance at this stage. Tall defender Jason Blake, who left the ground with a dislocated thumb, faces a fitness test before he is cleared to play.

The MRP also cleared Saints forward Stephen Milne for his 'low impact' hit on Cat Steve Johnson from Sunday's clash, while incidents involving Bulldogs players Ryan Hargrave and Shaun Higgins and Hawthorn's Michael Osborne and Brent Guerra were reviewed and then tossed out.

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