







Justice Middleton noted that neither Essendon, James Hird or the players brought legal proceedings to challenge the provision of the interim report at the time.

Essendon now have 21 days to appeal the judgement to the full federal court (a court of three judges).

Review Nick Bowen's live coverage of the judgement

ASADA meanwhile can move to reissue deadlines for the 34 players to respond to the show-cause notices, likely to be a timeline of 14 days.





The anti-doping authority was quick to welcome the federal court judgement.

"Today’s judgment vindicates (ASADA CEO) Ben McDevitt’s strong belief that the Act always contemplated ASADA working with sports to uphold clean competition," they said in a statement released on Friday afternoon.

"The only way to stay ahead of sophisticated doping regimes is to partner with sports; not exclude them from the process. "Three months ago ASADA put formal allegations of possible anti-doping rule violations to 34 current and former Essendon players. These players still have a case to answer under the World Anti-Doping Code and Australia's national anti-doping scheme."



