Essendon have declared legal war on ASADA with a Federal Court challenge that aims to kill off anti-doping disciplinary action against 34 AFL players.

The move to go to court is a slap in the face for ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt, who was hopeful the players would consider negotiating for reduced penalties.

Instead, the Bombers have lodged legal papers with the matter due in court on June 27.

Essendon’s decision on Friday to take legal action came a day after it was revealed that ASADA were sending show cause letters to 34 current and past Bombers players.

The notices were a result of the joint ASADA and AFL investigation into Essendon’s controversial 2012 supplements program.

In a strongly-worded statement, Essendon chairman Paul Little said the joint investigation was unlawful, with the board deciding unanimously to launch the court action.

“There is no power or capacity under the ASADA Act to conduct a joint investigation. There never was,” Little said.

“Enough is enough. We will not be bullied and we will not allow our players to be hung out to dry any longer. They have suffered enough.”

Essendon will argue the structure of the joint investigation was fundamentally flawed.

But on Friday afternoon, only minutes before Little confirmed the court action, McDevitt said ASADA had the law on its side.

“The way I read it and the independent legal advice I’ve had on it, (the Act) always contemplated a co-regulatory regime between ASADA and the relevant sporting body,” he told Radio SEN.

“It always contemplated that we would work in a cooperative relationship with sports.

“That’s the only way it can work.”

Nevertheless, Little said he was very confident that Essendon’s legal action will succeed.

If they do win in court, the Bombes will then seek a permanent injunction covering all the evidence gathered by the investigation.

Essendon announced in February last year that they were coming under the joint ASADA-AFL investigation.

The AFL hit the club with severe penalties last August and Little said the club accepted that punishment.

He added the Bombers had cooperated all the way through the process.

“Part of that cooperation was not challenging the legality of the structure that was put in place initially,” he said.

“We respected that, but now that show cause notices have been issued, we believe it’s time to change that approach.”

He said they were now honour-bound to take legal action.

Little also blasted McDevitt, saying he had tried to contact the new ASADA boss two or three times without success.

“Yet he’s freely available for the press to do his media roadshow,” Little said of McDevitt’s Friday media appearances.

During those interviews, McDevitt floated the possibility of players having potential two-year doping bans reduced to six months if they were prepared to negotiate with ASADA.

Players have 10 days to respond to the show cause notices and Little said they should follow their own legal advice on that.

Little added Essendon were also acting for players no longer at the club.

While the identities of the 34 players are yet to be revealed, Port Adelaide’s Angus Monfries and the Western Bulldogs’ Stewart Crameri were at Essendon in 2012.

Little also said it would be stupid to suggest that by taking the legal action, Essendon were trying to avoid the central issue of whether their players took banned substances.

The show cause letters and the legal action represent another massive disruption for Essendon’s on-field campaign.

Essendon play Melbourne on Sunday at the MCG.

But Little said the players were relieved to know “the club was becoming more proactive with its approach”.

There are fears that the anti-doping process could take years to resolve.