James Hird and his key staffers refused an AFL offer for the Essendon coach to plead guilty alone to misconduct charges, which would have spared club doctor Bruce Reid, Mark Thompson and Danny Corcoran from facing the commission.

With Hird and his club now openly at war with the competition's governing body, it is understood that the AFL expected on Monday that Hird would be the only individual still at the club to face charges emanating from the 2011-12 drugs program.

The negotiation was to have seen Reid and Corcoran resign from Essendon at the end of the season. Instead both men, along with senior assistant Thompson, chose to stand alongside Hird and fight the misconduct charges.

Essendon and Hird were to have been charged on Monday but legal wrangling stalled the announcement until 7.30 pm Tuesday, with the Bombers seething at what they regarded as divisive tactics by the AFL designed to drive a wedge between Hird and his three long-time colleagues.