The AFL's anti-doping tribunal, chaired by former County Court judge David Jones, is currently deliberating over whether 34 past and present Bombers were in 2012 administered the banned drug thymosin beta-4.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has also brought a case against Stephen Dank, the architect of the supplements program.

ASADA chief Ben McDevitt raised the prospect of an appeal when he fronted the Senate estimates committee in Canberra late on Wednesday night.

"The offence of possession or use, which is what we are talking about here, normally would carry a two-year ban," McDevitt said.

But he added this could be cut if players were to successfully claim no fault or no significant fault, or had provided substantial assistance and/or had been provisionally suspended – the latter being the case for the 34 players, of which 17 are still with the Bombers.

Sources close to the investigation have suggested that if there were suspensions, ASADA would want them to include at least the opening four to six rounds of the home-and-away season.

When asked whether the AFL's anti-doping tribunal could rule a player guilty but that he should not miss a home-and-away game as part of any backdated suspension, McDevitt said: "Hypothetically it could – as to whether or not that would be an acceptable outcome, people would have different views on that."

When pressed on whether he felt it would be appropriate for any guilty player to not miss a home-and-away match, he said: "Well, Senator, you are asking for my opinion – this will need to be looked at very, very carefully. We need to look at the provisions of the code and take that into account. At the end of the day, Ben McDevitt's opinion is really not relevant. It's what do the code provisions allow?"

McDevitt added ASADA could appeal such a decision. "That would be an option open to us," he said.

On possible appeals, he had earlier said: "There potentially would be. Depending on the findings of the tribunal, there are appeal options, opportunities, open to any of the players before the tribunal, including ASADA and WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency].

"My understanding, in the first instance, an appeal by ASADA would actually go to the AFL anti-doping appeals tribunal, so still within the purview of the AFL anti-doping arrangements, whereas an appeal by WADA could go, as I understand it, directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

McDevitt's comments sparked frustration among football fans on social media on Thursday, with supporters worried the saga could continue deep into the new season, having already affected the NAB Challenge, with the Bombers forced to bring in top-up players.

Ings said it was no surprise there could be an appeal should ASADA be unhappy with the decision reached by the AFL tribunal.

"I don't understand why some are surprised that ASADA may appeal a not-guilty or token penalty verdict. ASADA would appeal in a heartbeat," he said.

"ASADA clearly believe they have a strong case that an ADRV [anti-doping rule violation] was committed by player(s) at Essendon. The tribunal will have the responsibility to decide if the ASADA case is strong or not, of course.

"But if the tribunal makes a decision that no ADRV was committed, or one was committed but with a very soft ban, then ASADA may appeal.

"Remember that the normal ban is two years. If no significant fault, it is 12 to 24 months. If no fault, it is a warning."

McDevitt said athletes were "personally responsible for what goes into their bodies, and while at the end of the day there is infrastructure above them that needs to be targeted, we need to make sure we are effective in our job. Every time an athlete runs onto a stadium with banned substances pumping around in their body, they have got an unfair advantage against their competition. We have to make sure that is not the case."

McDevitt suggested Essendon and coach James Hird – having presided over failed Federal Court action – were to blame for the delays in securing a resolution for the saga, which is now into its third year.