Mark Thompson has warned that current and former Essendon players caught up in the club's ill-fated supplements program plan to sue the AFL next year for as much as $50 million.

The "Essendon 34" were handed season-long doping suspensions in January from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with 17 of those players still in the AFL system and 12 on the Bombers' list.

The banned players are expected to settle compensation claims with the club out of court, but Thompson is confident they will also go after the AFL, meaning the protracted saga will drag on into a fifth year.

Earlier this year Essendon were fined $200,000 by WorkSafe for failing to provide a working environment that was safe and without risks to health in 2012.