The AFL won't be withdrawing from WADA's anti-doping regime despite the players' association calling for the league to consider cutting the cord.

In the wake of the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) decision to ban 12 current Essendon players - and five from other AFL clubs - for the coming season, AFLPA boss Paul Marsh said the current system produced absurd results.

Marsh suggested the bans were an example of catching out "people that are not cheats".

"I don't have a great deal of faith in the WADA regime and ASADA is a part of that," he said.

"I'm sure I'll be criticised for saying that but I don't really care.

"It's something we've got to have a really good, hard, long look at because there's just too many injustices ... it's catching too many people that are not cheats."

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan poured cold water on Marsh's proposal, suggesting he was speaking from a position of hurt.

"People are going to say a lot of things today and they'll be wearing the hats that they wear," he said.

"We're committed to clean sport.

"We have a long-term partnership with ASADA and the WADA code is at the core of that."

McLachlan, who was promoted to the top job at the AFL midway through the three-year saga, did agree there was a case to alter the code by working with ASADA.

"It is a code that was essentially designed for individual athletes and it has a series of limitations for team sport," he said.

"I don't think I'm being provocative in saying that and we will work through all the relevant parties to have a code that is right for team sport and right for our game."

Essendon chairman Lindsay Tanner welcomed the AFL's review.

ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt said he felt for the players because of the length of time involved in prosecuting their case.

"We as a collective need to be able to streamline the time-frames involved between notification of an alleged violation ... and its final resolution," he said.

Any decision to remove the AFL from the anti-doping regime would likely come at the cost of federal government support and funding.

Marsh said it was still possible if league bosses wanted to walk the same road as major American sporting competitions.

"In our view, the best anti-doping codes in world sport are the ones that are collectively bargained between the athletes and the sport," he said.

"In many respects, they've got their houses in order so it's certainly something that can happen."