ESSENDON could seek an injunction to delay a decision on any penalties over charges laid against the club and four of its staff that could allow the Bombers to play in the finals, prominent media lawyer Justin Quill says.

Quill also believes it's highly unlikely the situation will be resolved on August 26 at the club's hearing at AFL House if it isn't settled by negotiation beforehand.

Click here for our full coverage of the Essendon supplement scandal

The club, James Hird, Mark Thompson, Danny Corcoran and Dr Bruce Reid were officially charged by the AFL on Tuesday night.

They were accused of engaging in conduct that is unbecoming or likely to prejudice the interests or reputation of the Australian Football League or to bring the game of football into disrepute, contrary to rule 1.6.

Quill believes the first thing the Bombers' legal team will consider on Wednesday morning will be whether they should seek an injunction from the Supreme Court.

This would see the case argued after the finals series is complete.

AFL full statement

"They can go along to the Supreme Court and say, look we've got an arguable case here, here's what we're going to argue that would say we shouldn't get a penalty," Quill told SEN.

"If you, the Supreme Court, let the AFL Commission have their hearing on the 26th and suspend us, we can never get the 2013 finals series back.

"We might ultimately be proved correct if we win this case in the Supreme Court, but we'll never get it back.

"So what you should do is give us an injunction so we can play our finals series and we can all argue this after that and if we're wrong, we can cop a penalty later."

No issue with charges: WADA

One of the Bombers' arguments could be the interim status of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority report on which the AFL based its charges.  

Quill said the only way the case would be complete before the August 26 hearing would be if a deal was brokered between the AFL and the Bombers.

This would see the club accept a sanction, perhaps including the loss of draft picks and/or premiership points, and a fine.   

Essendon full statement

Quill said he wasn't surprised charges were laid despite the report's interim nature.

He said the Ziggy Switkowski report, commissioned by Essendon and tabled in May, might have been enough for the AFL to determine the game had been brought into disrepute.

Quill expressed surprise over the Bombers' decision to ask Switkowski to investigate governance issues the club had before the ASADA inquiry was complete.

"If I had been Essendon, I would have been saying, let's keep our mouths shut until everything's done," he said.

"The report found that the governance wasn't good enough and arguably, that's enough as a result to have brought the game into disrepute."

Meanwhile, former Essendon great Tim Watson still believes the Bombers won't play in the finals this year. 

"I still think the AFL will take the points off," Watson said on SEN on Wednesday. 

Justin Quill is a director of Kelly Hazell Quill Lawyers, and advises AFL.com.au on legal matters

Twitter: @AFL_JenPhelan