A former Essendon-listed player has moved to sue the AFL and the club, adding another element to the Bombers' supplements saga.
An initial hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider whether the player's identity should be prevented from publication.
That hearing will take place only hours before the official AFL season launch, also in Melbourne.
The AFL anti-doping tribunal is also a week away from handing down verdicts on 34 current and past Essendon players.
The Supreme Court hearing is separate to the anti-doping tribunal deliberations.
It is understood 17 current Essendon players are among those awaiting their tribunal fates.
The verdicts will be announced less than a week before Essendon's round-one match on April 4 against Sydney.
Bombers legend Kevin Sheedy also weighed into the saga on Tuesday, criticising the time it had taken for tribunal verdicts to be reached.
"It is a very sick, ordinary case rolling out in Australian sport," News Corp Australia quoted Sheedy as saying.
"A three-year wait is ridiculous."
Sheedy's comments came a few days after AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan was ambushed on Sydney radio and peppered with questions about how the league had handled the Essendon supplements saga.
Whatever the tribunal verdicts, March 31 will not be the end of the matter - whoever loses appears certain to appeal.
Apart from Wednesday's Supreme Court hearing, there is also an ongoing Victorian WorkCover Authority investigation into the AFL and Essendon.
Reigning Essendon best-and-fairest winner Dyson Heppell said on Tuesday the team was holding together, despite the obvious stresses of the upcoming tribunal verdicts.
"You go through different stages where you do feel different emotions," he told Triple M.
"I guess we are human and you do feel for each other at stages.
"Certainly, different blokes will take the next fortnight or so ... very differently.
"It hasn't bothered me too much but, as a group, we're certainly holding strong.
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