Essendon supplements saga: WADA appeal hearing over

ESSENDON remains hopeful that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will deliver its finding on the club’s supplements program before Christmas.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 02: Brendon Goddard of the Bombers looks dejected after losing the round 18 AFL match between the Essendon Bombers and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on August 2, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

ESSENDON remains hopeful that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will deliver its finding on the club’s supplements program before Christmas.

Several Essendon players attended the five-day hearing in Sydney, which wrapped up on Friday night, and the club now awaits the judgement of CAS’s three-member panel.

WADA appealed the AFL anti-doping tribunal’s not guilty findings over allegations 34 past and present Bombers players using banned substance Thymosin beta-4 during the 2012 season.

CAS Secretary-general Matthieu Reeb said during the week that he “would not like to engage myself to any deadline’’, but suggested s decision might not come until the new year.

However Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell said he remained “optimistic” the club would know its fate before Christmas.

Essendon believes it was given a fair hearing in Sydney, and the CAS finding — whichever way it goes — will be final.

Essendon captain Jobe Watson and other players were said to have given evidence.