As the patched-up Bombers enjoyed an unexpected win over Melbourne in their final pre-season hit-out on Friday night, Sheedy has urged anyone connected with the club to rally around each other.

In a letter to members, Sheedy said the reason he left Greater Western Sydney to return to the club he led to four premierships was to help it through this turbulent period ahead of the March 31 verdict from the AFL's anti-doping tribunal, where the fate of 17 current players alleged to have been administered a banned drug will become clearer.

"In all honesty, I was very happy in Sydney and it was a difficult decision to come back to Essendon. But I have made a choice to come back and help the club through this challenging period," Sheedy said.

"It is important we all stand our ground under adversity and support the club we love. Regardless of what happens in the next few weeks, we are in the trenches and we must stand together because there is no tougher time at Essendon than right now. That is why I came back."

The anti-doping tribunal may release only a summary of information on March 31, without any specific names. Those details will come only if the players, should they be found guilty, not appeal, or the appeal period lapses.

If players are found guilty, a directions hearing will be held to set a date for a sanctions hearing. The players' lawyers will then outline what discounts should be applied in the anti-doping code to reduce sanctions, with ASADA also making a submission. If the players don't agree with what ASADA and the AFL eventually determine, they can appeal to the AFL appeals tribunal and then the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

While the banned drug at the centre of the case is thymosin beta-4, in an interview with Sydney shock jock Alan Jones on Friday, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said it was still unclear just what other injections the players were given as part of a program run by former club official Stephen Dank.

McLachlan was forced to defend the treatment James Hird had received, what the AFL knew about the program in 2012 - months before the Bombers self-reported - and what had been the league's duty of care in providing a "safe workplace" for its players.

"There were thousands of injections which no one now can tell people what they are. This concept of people being buried, in your [Jones'] words, as opposed to being held to account for a program that no one now can still tell people what they had been injected with," McLachlan said.

Dank, issued with an infraction notice but maintaining he gave the players nothing illegal, is also set to have his fate determined by the anti-doping tribunal on March 31.

The Bombers remain confident the 34 current and former players will not be found guilty, with Hird preparing to field his "best" team for the season opener against Sydney at ANZ Stadium.

The Dons had only seven first-choice players take to the field against the Demons because of provisional suspensions yet they conjured a two-point win after Lauchlan Dalgleish intercepted a pass by Jack Viney inside the final two minutes and booted the winning goal.

"We are preparing to have our best team, and we are confident that will happen," Hird said.

If they are cleared by the anti-doping tribunal, the next question will be how mentally prepared and match-hardened the likes of skipper Jobe Watson will be, considering they have not played a match through the pre-season competition.

It's an unknown Hird cannot truly answer, although he is confident the Bombers' training staff and coaches have done the best they can.

"Who knows? We are not going to know until quarter time in the Sydney game, or half-time in the Sydney game, really, how match-hardened we are," he said.

"We might not know until five minutes to go in the Sydney game. But we are very confident with the program we have put in place. We are very confident the guys have trained extremely hard and we have prepared them to play a game in round one."

Amid this worrying period, Sheedy is one of several familiar faces to return to the Bombers in recent months, joining assistant coach Mark Harvey and part-time assistant coach Matthew Lloyd.

While there hasn't been a great deal to celebrate amid a turbulent couple of years, Sheedy said he wanted the Bombers to again have some fun.

"I can promise we are going to have a lot of fun over the next few years - we are going to make people proud to Don the Sash," he said.

"I believe in everyone at the Essendon Football Club and have enormous faith in the direction we're heading. One concept I'm very passionate about is having a game dedicated to our farmers.

"We're currently working through the details of the match, including seeking partners to help us create this opportunity and give something back to the people who are the soul of our nation."