Essendon coach James Hird has confirmed he will not be seeking special leave to appeal against ASADA to the High Court of Australia.

Hird said the decision was made in the best interest of the players, supporters and the Club.

“This decision is based on trying to give us the best chance in 2015 of winning as many games of football as we can and for our football club to be as great as it possibly can,” Hird said

“Fundamentally we still believe that our players weren't treated in the way they should have been treated."

"It's very disappointing. Ultimately, we hope that the players are cleared through the tribunal process that is to be handed down very shortly.”

 “I want to thank supporters for their overwhelming support of us as a group of people, our team and our players.”

Hird said it was important that people understand the reasons why the action was taken in the first place.

"All the way along we've fought this fight in the Federal Court firstly because we believe that our players and staff weren't afforded the rights they deserved.”

“We believe that the investigation was unlawful and we fought that principle." 

“It's been said that we've tried to suppress evidence and tried to hide things, but that's far from the truth.”

“In making the decision that the Federal Court made, we believe that the investigation was unlawful and we still believe that. We believe the rights of our players, support staff and every Australian athlete are less than the normal Australian.”