Essendon great Tim Watson maintained on Wednesday the Bombers would be stripped of premiership points. The charges will be heard by the AFL Commission on August 26.

"Quite frankly,this is lunacy to suggest we are all going to turn up on the 26th,they are all going to run their cases on the 26th,and we will get a result on the 26th or 27th,"Kane said.

"You only have to look at the fact ASADA have taken at least six months to build their report. Essendon might want to take every point and test every piece of evidence to challenge the validity of the findings in the report.

"I can't see it being resolved before the finals in any way unless they reach a settlement agreement. I think it's impossible it will be settled before the finals."

Kane said he would be"surprised"if the Bombers did not head to the Supreme Court in the next week."There could be a number of injunctions. There could be a temporary injunction stopping the AFL Commission hearing the matter,there could be an injunction permanently stopping the AFL relying on the ASADA interim report,"he said.

"They probably could seek some kind of relief restraining the AFL from doing anything to sanction the club and any of the four people until any further order is made."

While the legal teams for all parties continued to assess their options,Malthouse again urged the AFL to take strong action,warning this was needed to prevent young players from being tempted to try to accelerate their development by pushing the boundaries.

Speaking on 3AW,the three-time premiership coach said a supplements program of Essendon's kind would not have happened at a club he coached because of the quality of his leadership groups.

"But if they[Essendon] have gone off premises to have injections,wouldn't there be cause for suspicion among the leadership group?"he said."It is going to test the AFL and its resolve to make sure that things don't appear the way this one has. It's a shocking thing to be hanging over a code."

Hird said on Wednesday all options would be considered as the fight to clear the names of all parties continued."We'll support each other. It's interesting that the four of us have been identified as[part of] the blackest day in Australian sporting history now,so we take that very seriously,"Hird said.