Essendon chairman Paul Little has declared the club might have made a mistake in self-reporting its controversial supplements regime.
The Bombers asked ASADA and the AFL to investigate their concerns over the possible use of prohibited supplements in February last year, triggering one of the most damaging sagas in Australian sport.
Little, who became Essendon's chairman in July last year, now concedes the club's handling of the situation was flawed.
"We've got the view that self reporting might not have worked all that well for us," Little told Triple M on Friday.
"We gave away all of our leverage, we gave away our rights to control the situation."
The penalties handed down by the AFL included a 12-month suspension for coach James Hird for his role in the scandal, and the club was ejected from the 2013 finals series.
"I just think we could have overly complicated a process that might not have needed to be that complicated," Little said.
