Essendon have failed in their bid to have legal representation at the AFL anti-doping tribunal hearing involving 34 current and former Bomber players.
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The tribunal, consisting of David Jones, John Nixon and Wayne Henwood on Thursday heard submissions from Essendon's lawyer, named as Michael Abrahams, who argued that the Bombers be allowed to take part in the proceedings, which will stretch into next year.
However, Essendon were knocked back, at least partly on the basis that the tribunal hearing was private, as was decided last week.
The 34 players last month were issued infraction notices by the Australian Sports Anti-doping Authority, in which they were charged with having taken banned peptide thymosin beta-4 as part of the club's 2012 supplements program. The notices had followed a 16-month investigation, which had coincided with the probe of NRL club Cronulla.
Malcolm Holmes, QC, representing ASADA, continued his opening submission on Thursday.
He detailed "among other things, various text messages, emails and transcripts produced as part of the investigation," the AFL said in a release.
Holmes will continue the anti-doping body's submission on Friday, before the hearing is adjourned until January 12 next year.
The decision for the hearing – at the County Court – to be held in camera came after the tribunal members considered arguments from the AFL and media organisations, all of whom had sought to have the hearing held in public. However, in the judgment released by Jones on December 8, the possibility of defamation was seen to outweigh the public interest argument.
