Stephen Dank says he does not give "a flying f---" that the World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing the decision to drop 21 charges that Australian sports drug authorities laid against him.

The architect of Essendon's ill-fated injection program was expansive with Fairfax Media after WADA launched an appeal of the Dank case through the Court of Arbitration for Sport and also raised the prospect – however slim – of representing himself in a CAS setting.

Dank says he has legal advice that the CAS cannot compel him to give evidence, but said his motivation to appear in the future tribunal setting would be to take on WADA in person.

Dank singled out Richard Young, the US-based, internationally renowned, anti-doping expert who led the prosecutions of drug cheats Marion Jones, Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, and who was also specially commissioned to advise Australian authorities on the AFL scandal last year. Young reviewed the briefs of evidence prepared by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority against Essendon and NRL club Cronulla.

While Dank said "there's probably a three per cent chance" that he would front a CAS hearing voluntarily – most likely later this year, and Dank's sense is that it will be overseas – the prospect clearly holds some appeal.

"I haven't ruled it out," he told Fairfax on Tuesday night, "but I'm not saying I'll definitely do it."

More generally, Dank indicated his ongoing contempt about the entire affair.  "I don't give a flying f---," he said, when asked for his response to WADA appealing his case. "I'm certainly not concerned, and this could very well work in my favour."

Asked how this was so, Dank said: "We'll best leave the answer to that until we commence our legal action. I'm not at liberty to discuss our strategies."

Pushed to explain himself further, Dank said: "We'll just leave it at that. But I want to reiterate that I certainly have no concern in relation to this morning's development. I find this whole situation as laughable as when the investigation first started on February 5, 2013.

"I don't have an issue with going there [to a CAS tribunal] to represent myself, or to appear on behalf of the players, because I just know how laughable the whole situation is. But whether or not I do that will depend on whether I really want to go over there and how much it is going to interfere with my life back here.

"I'm certainly not going to go over there at my own expense. That is money I'd prefer to put towards animal rights."

Instrumental in drafting the original WADA code, Young has been enlisted by WADA to prosecute Essendon players – and Dank – through the CAS. Young has indicated WADA's preference to have the case heard in Switzerland, though CAS hearings can also take place in New York and Sydney.

"They've tried to ride a man by the name of Richard Young into town who will come in with his stetson, his sheriff's badge and his pair of six shooters," Dank said. "But I guarantee the one thing he won't be pulling is the trigger of his six shooters. I think he'll be preoccupied with pulling something else.

"I'm not frightened of Richard Young. I'm not worried."

Dank has previously indicated that he would defend himself only in a court of law. He gave evidence to the Australian Crime Commission about his past work in the two richest and most popular sports codes in the country – the AFL and NRL – but was compelled to do so under Australian law.

Dank has legal proceedings in train in NSW – mostly damages claims against journalists he says defamed him through their reporting of his work with former Cronulla Sharks prop, Jon Mannah, who died from cancer in 2013.

Clive Evatt, who has acted for Dank throughout, has already indicated that Dank also intends to sue ASADA, its CEO Ben McDevitt and the AFL.