AFL Players' Association player relations manager Ian Prendergast has compared the Essendon players involved in the ongoing supplements saga to construction workers exposed to asbestos.

Prendergast, speaking as a representative of the Australian Athletes' Alliance at a Senate inquiry in Canberra into proposed amendments to Australia's anti-doping legislation, criticised what the AAA felt were draconian doping penalties imposed on athletes in team sports.

"If we compare that situation at Essendon to what would happen in another industry – say the construction industry, for example, where construction workers are exposed to asbestos through the lies of their employer – would we be talking about punishing those workers or would we be talking about compensating them?" Prendergast said.

Prendergast claimed that the two-year bans facing the 34 players who were issued with revised show-cause notices from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority were "disproportionately high ... especially given the circumstances they are employed under".