Essendon Chief Executive Xavier Campbell says the Club expects to know the result of the players appeal against the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s verdict in October, at the latest.

Parties have delivered their written submissions, but Campbell said establishing exactly how long the deliberation process will take is unclear.

“It’s difficult to get a really precise date, or zone for when a decision could be handed down,” Campbell told Bomber Radio.

“At best, maybe sometime late August and at worst in October.

“It is a foreign process and it’s really difficult. Ultimately, all of the submissions have been submitted and it’s now in deliberation phase.

“How long that takes will be up to the court over there, the Swiss Court, to determine.

“We hope that it’s sooner rather than later for obvious reasons.”

All Australians Dyson Heppell and Cale Hooker, as well as Heath Hocking, Travis Colyer, David Myers and Tom Bellchambers have confirmed their commitment to the Club for next season, leaving six players yet to publically announce their intentions for 2017. 

“We’re well progressed with three or four others that are yet to be confirmed, and we hope to be in a position sooner rather than later to announce that,” he said.

Campbell said negotiations with players and their representatives around compensation are continuing to progress.

“I’ve said recently that it’s been a process where all parties have had to be patient because it’s incredibly complex and there are a whole range of stakeholders,” he said. 

“There are legal elements, players at other clubs, players that have retired, players that are still here, and we’ve worked really hard to set up a structure that we feel will deal with these claims when they come through expeditiously but also in a very reasonable fashion that’s fair for all parties.

“We’re at a point now where we are receiving claims and we’re working through those. We hope to be able to start settling claims really quickly.”