Players lawyer Tony Hargreaves has accused ASADA boss Ben McDevitt of being "disingenuous" and slammed the ongoing delays in the case of the 34 past and present Essendon players as "inexcusable".
Responding to comments by McDevitt that ASADA would not be dictated to and insisting that the players follow due process, Hargreaves told Fairfax Media he feared the case could now move deep into next year.
"The real game now is with the AFL," Hargreaves said. "Let's bounce the ball and get on with it."
McDevitt on Thursday antagonised the AFL Players' Association and the AFL when he questioned the push to bypass the Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel and declared he wished "such interest in player welfare had been present in 2012".
Hargreaves refused to be drawn on that jibe and said he had not attempted to contact McDevitt. "I don't speak to McDevitt," he said. "I just read what he has to say in the newspapers ... (But) it is disingenuous for McDevitt to tell us to read the 12,000 pages of evidence. We've seen this before and it's not the evidence, it's a summary of what ASADA says is the evidence.
"We are not talking about 12,000 pages. We are talking about roughly 105 pages for each individual player, which are virtually identical. The AFL Players' Association and (players' QC) David Grace sat in on those player interviews and we are aware of their evidence and have been since last year.
"The delays, in our view, are inexcusable. Even allowing for the appeals by Essendon and (James) Hird, we would respectfully say that ASADA completed their interviews with the players in May 2013. The first show-cause letters arrived in June 2014. ASADA has been dealing with this for the past 18 months."
Hargreaves said it was wrong of McDevitt to suggest AFL and not ASADA held the power to fast-track the players' cases. "Not true. The AFL cannot decide whether or not to deliver infraction notices against the players until they have been delivered the evidence against those players."
It is understood that the league's legal counsel, Andrew Dillon, attempted in July to secure documents pertaining to ASADA's case against the 34 past and present Essendon players in order consider the AFL's position but was refused.
While some players said in their interviews last year that they had no idea what drugs they had been given under the Essendon substances program others recalled conversations which could have identified certain drugs.
Hargreaves, who is working with the AFLPA's lawyers Brett Murphy and Bernie Shinners in defending the players, said he feared McDevitt's insistence that the players' cases now go before the ADRVP could further slow the process.
"We don't know how long this is going to take," said Hargreaves. "They (the ADRVP) normally meet once a month and the panel consists of three members, all with significant other commitments. We have no problem adhering to their process, that is not the issue.
"We simply see no reason why McDevitt can't give the relevant documents to Andrew Dillon now to consider while the panel works concurrently considering the 34 show-cause packs."
