St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has backed Luke Ball to be able to play his first game in seven weeks in a preliminary final with the star midfielder on course to make his long-awaited return against the Hawks on Saturday night at the MCG.
Ball, who has not played since injuring his hamstring in Round 18, was named on Thursday night in the Saints' side to meet the Hawks - in place of injured youngster Jarryd Allen - but he was also named against the Magpies last week before being a late withdrawal.
However Ball was able to make it through training this week on both Tuesday and Thursday and the Saints are far more confident of his availability this week compared to last week.
"We are optimistic, he is progressing well and he is hitting top speed again," Lyon said of Ball on Thursday.
The concern for the Saints now is not so much whether the influential midfielder - one of the AFL's best ball winners and one of the competition's most courageous players - is fit but whether he can overcome his lack of match fitness by stepping straight into such a high pressure game.
"But he is a very talented player Luke, he is a best and fairest winner and an All-Australian (in 2005) and if anyone can do it, I think Luke can," Lyon said.
Should Ball again be a late withdrawal his logical replacement is former Bulldogs' midfielder Shane Birss, who starred in the VFL last week, with Birss named as an emergency alongside Aaron Fiora and ruckman Michael Gardiner.
The Hawks also made just one change with Xavier Ellis returning in place of Cameron Stokes, who was ruled out with hamstring soreness after being a late inclusion for the qualifying final win over the Bulldogs.
Veteran defender Trent Croad - one of just two survivors from the Hawks' last preliminary final appearance in 2001 - and pacy midfielder Chance Bateman were both named but remain under an injury cloud.
Croad has barely trained since bruising his foot in the qualifying final a fortnight ago while Bateman rolled his ankle at training earlier this week and more will be known of their likely availability when the Hawks have their final training session at Waverley on Friday morning.
The Hawks also stuck with 20-year-old Brent Renouf as the back-up ruckman to Robert Campbell, ahead of the more experienced Simon Taylor, following Renouf's influential performance against the Bulldogs a fortnight ago.
Taylor, who has played 66 games compared to Renouf's six, was not even named amongst the three emergencies with tall defender Stephen Gilham and midfield pair Travis Tuck and Jarryd Morton on standby to come in for Croad and Bateman respectively.
Meanwhile, the Western Bulldogs made no change for Friday night's first preliminary final against Geelong at the MCG with star midfielder Adam Cooney - in doubt earlier in the week due to both injury and illness - given the all-clear to take his place in what is the Dogs' most important match since their last preliminary final appearance a decade ago.
But the Cats will start the match as the shortest-priced favourites ever for a preliminary final - $1.10 compared to the Bulldogs $6.50 - and their strength in depth was summed up by the fact that premiership players James Kelly and David Wojcinski were named as the