'This has been a very dark period': Mike Fitzpatrick says Essendon has paid a high price

ESSENDON PLAYERS DOPING VERDICT:

• Bombers granted ability to sign up to 10 extra players to its team list for the 2016 season

• Club is permitted to upgrade all of its five rookies to the senior list

• Club will also receive an allowance to supplement players over the salary cap

• Jobe Watson’s 2012 Brownlow Medal will be reviewed by the Commission in February

• Other teams affected by the suspensions may immediately upgrade a rookie in replacement for each suspended player

Jobe Watson’s 2012 Brownlow Medal win will be reviewed by the AFL Commission during a hearing next month following the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to hand down a guilty verdict to the 34 past and present Essendon players.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan confirmed the League had discussions about the Brownlow after the verdict was handed down, which has rocked the entire code in what's been described as a 'very dark period' for the League.

Watson will be invited to address the Commission.

“The Commission determined that the awarding of this Medal needs to be reviewed in light of today’s decision,” McLachlan said during a press conference.

“It is the AFL’s view that due process must apply in this matter.

“Therefore, it was determined that the full commission must hear this issue and there will be a February meeting to provide the appropriate level of time for parties to be prepared.

AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said the club had paid a high price.

"It's had a terrible impact on the players and the club," he said.

"This has been a very dark period but it will not define Australian football".

The club has been granted the ability to sign up to 10 extra players to its team list for the 2016 season, AFL CEO Gill McLachlan said at a press conference.

The Bombers will also be permitted to upgrade all of its five rookies to the senior list, he said. The club will also receive an allowance to supplement players over the salary cap.

“It is the AFL's view that Essendon must be able to field a competitive team.” McLachlan said.

Other teams affected by the suspensions may immediately upgrade a rookie in replacement for each suspended player, in the way they would for an injured player.

“These suspensions must stand as part of our commitment to a clean sport,” McLachlan said.

McLachlan called on Bombers supporters to stand by their team.

“Essendon now needs its supporters to be with them at their lowest time,” he said.

Bombers Chairman Lindsay Tanner said the penalties imposed on the players was unfair.

“Today's finding is extremely disappointing and heartbreaking for the players," he said at a press conference.

“As a Club we should have had more robust systems in place. The supplements program of 2012 was a mistake.

"The players now need your support more than ever. We will get through this."

Tanner said Essendon was a proud and competitive club with 142 years of history. “We can't change the past, only learn from it."

EARLIER: Former Essendon coach James Hird has claimed a miscarriage of justice following the 12-month suspensions of players by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday morning.

“I firmly believe the players do not deserve this finding,” Hird said in a statement.

“They do not deserve to face a 12-month suspension from the sport.

“This is a miscarriage of justice for 34 young men.

“I will not be making any further comment today. I intent to make further comment later in the week.”

The comments come in response to current and former players being banned for this AFL season because of doping, after the stunning verdict was handed down.

The court upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency's appeal against the AFL tribunal decision to clear 34 players of taking the banned substance thymosin-beta 4.

It is understood half those players from Essendon's 2012 list are still in the AFL - 12 with the Bombers and five at other clubs.

THE BANNED 34: Where are they now?

LLOYD: Bombers, AFL living a nightmare

LITTLE SYMPATHY: ASADA blasts Essendon over bans

While it was always felt that the final decision could go either way, the severity of the ban is another unexpected twist in the saga.

There had been speculation that the players' two-year bans could be backdated so heavily that they would only miss a handful of games or even none at all.

Essendon had always been confident any punishment would be minimal.

The CAS verdict is most likely the last step in the official anti-doping process that started on February 5, 2012 when Essendon announced they were coming under a joint AFL and ASADA investigation.

The three-man CAS panel was comfortably satisfied that the players took thymosin beta-4 as part of the club's controversial supplements program.

It is the biggest anti-doping scandal in Australian sporting history and the guilty verdicts and bans will have massive ramifications.

"The 34 players concerned are sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on 31 March 2015, with credit given for any individual period of ineligibility already served," CAS said in a statement.

"Thus, most of the suspensions will come to an end in November 2016.

"The panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that Clause 11.2 of the 2010 AFL Doping Code (use of a prohibited substance) has been violated and found by a majority that all players were significantly at fault."

Essendon and the AFL had made contingency plans about top-up players, who also were used during last year's pre-season competition as provisional bans were served.

Essendon captain Jobe Watson is known to be among the banned players and one immediate question is whether he will keep his 2012 Brownlow Medal.