Daniel Merrett will be free to face Adelaide this Sunday at the Gabba after the AFL Match Review Panel cleared his match day report for striking Melbourne’s Cameron Pederson.

The MRP assessed the incident as follows:

Melbourne’s Dom Tyson had the ball and kicked towards his teammate Pedersen. As Pedersen was preparing to mark, Merrett, who had his eyes on the ball, reached up to spoil with his left arm. Merrett made contact with the ball with his left arm in his spoiling action and also made high contact to Pedersen at the same time. It was the view of the panel that Merrett’s action was a legitimate attempt to spoil and the high contact made was deemed to be accidental as part of the spoiling motion. No further action was taken.

The decision means that the Lions won’t be forced to find a replacement for the 29-year-old who has provided a strong presence up forward in the absence of retired champion Jonathan Brown.