ST KILDA’S chances of a win over Collingwood in this week’s first semi-final have been given a boost with midfielder Lenny Hayes cleared of striking Geelong’s Joel Selwood.
Hayes was reported by umpire Scott Jeffery for striking Selwood in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Cats but was cleared after the match review panel deemed his action to be a grabbing motion rather than a striking motion.
The panel reviewed and cleared four other incidents from the weekend’s matches.
Hawk Brent Guerra’s bump on the Bulldogs’ Shaun Higgins was assessed as having no high contact and was not unreasonable.
Contact between the Bulldogs' Ryan Hargrave and Hawthorn's Michael Osborne from the third quarter of Friday's game was also reviewed. The impact was below that required to constitute a reportable offence. No further action was taken.
Adelaide’s Ben Rutten was cleared of contact with Collingwood's John McCarthy as was St Kilda’s Stephen Milne for contact with Geelong’s Steve Johnson.
