Essendon has lost its bid to put ASADA’s investigation into the AFL club’s supplements program on hold.

The AFL club argued in Federal Court that its players should not have to respond to the allegations until after Essendon concludes its court battle with the anti-doping authority.

But Justice John Middleton rejected the application for an injunction, meaning players could have just 14 days to respond to the allegations which could be delivered any time from next Tuesday.

The court heard on Friday that ASADA was extending the initial July 11 cut-off date for players to respond to the show-cause notices it issued to 34 current and former players.

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Essendon barrister Neil Young QC told the court that players and the club would be on tenterhooks unless the date was pushed back to the conclusion of the trial.

“ASADA has offered an undertaking that it will extend the response period until 14 days after they give a notice, such notice not to be given before June 30,” he told the court.

“It is effectively a rolling notice period that could be triggered after Tuesday.

“What we’re asking of ASADA is they simply further extend the response period.

“The reasonable thing to do is to offer protection for the whole trial.”

But Justice Middleton rejected Essendon’s application, saying it was an unnecessary measure.

“Unfortunately there will always be uncertainty with litigation, that’s why we’re trying to expedite this litigation,” Justice Middleton said.

A three-day trial had been set down for August 11.

ASADA’s barrister Tom Howe QC argued ASADA should have the right to trigger the show-cause notices at its own discretion.

Essendon welcomes August trial

Essendon chairman Paul Little welcomed the decision to fix an early trial date in August.

“The case raises important issues and today represents a small but significant step forward bringing these matters to a close for our players and their families,” he told reporters outside court.

“Today the court did not make an interim order that would stay the operation of the show-cause notices until the hearing of the case.

“But instead it accepted that the club was sufficiently protected by an undertaking from ASADA, to give the club and the players 14 days notice before taking any action on the notices.

“The judge made it clear that the court would be very disappointed if ASADA took any action to upset the status quo before the trial.”

Players don’t want to join court battle

The barrister representing the players, David Grace QC, told the hearing the players did not want to join the proceedings.

Mr Grace said their identities were currently protected and joining the court battle would lead to them being publicly named.

“The players do not seek to be joined, they seek to avoid the expense and stress,” Mr Grace said.

“They have been advised there is no requirement that they be joined and they are very sensitive to issues of confidentiality.”

But he warned that the players would return to court to seek to stop the show-cause notices if ASADA triggered them before the conclusion of the trial.

Mr Young said Essendon’s legal team was open to raising any legal point the players may wish to raise.

The parties will return for a further directions hearing on Wednesday, July 2.