As Dyson Heppell joined fellow star Cale Hooker and strong midfielder David Myers in re-committing to the club, reports surfaced that the Bombers were privately optimistic of retaining all of the still-active players caught up in the supplements scandal.

The view that the club could avoid a feared mass exodus gained more traction on Friday when Dodoro appeared on the club's website and chief executive Xavier Campbell did the rounds of Melbourne radio.

"We know where Jobe's at," Dodoro said of the Brownlow medallist, one of seven players yet to publicly confirm their position.

"He's just like the other guys in that he just wants to think about his life, his future and absorb everything that's happened.

"I'm quietly confident that he'll come back refreshed from overseas and he'll have a huge pre-season and play with us next year, but that's up to Jobe to come out and say that."

Speaking on SEN, Campbell added: "I can only speak from discussions that I've had with him, but they've been pretty positive.

"We hope the decision is that he will continue to play football, but we also want what is best for him.

"If he is going to play football, we want him to feel comfortable and feel the love and get the enjoyment from football."

The Bombers have only engaged in "preliminary discussions" with the other big name still to be secured, Michael Hurley, and Campbell said the club was not going to rush their key position star into making a call - admitting, though, that he was a "very important player for our future".

On the related issue of avoiding potential legal action from the past and present players affected by the drugs saga, Campbell said the club was also confident of reaching legal settlements with nearly all of them.

"It's very early … and we have worked very hard to create a process that we think is going to be very reasonable and fair to all parties," he said.

"We've had various discussions with all the parties and I feel like they have been positive.

"Time will tell, but we certainly have an objective to move through it as quickly as we can, but also ensure there is a reasonable outcome for everyone."

Campbell was again asked about the perception that the re-signing of players to play football again and any potential legal action could be linked, but the Bombers boss reiterated the club's firm stance that the two issues were separate.

"I appreciate that on face value it probably looks difficult and complicated, but in reality, it's not quite as complicated," he said.

"It is something that very early in the piece, and prior to the CAS decision, that we made very clear that there are legal rights that you [the players] have and there had already been discussion around what that might look like moving forward.

"We made it very clear that they are very separate paths – there is that legal rights path and also the football decision. And football decisions would not be compromised by anyone that may want to take legal action."