North Melbourne great Phil Krakouer is the face of the class action alongside six unnamed retired footballers who played between 1975 and 2022.
The case, which was lodged in the Victorian Supreme Court in September 2023, alleges senior AFL management did nothing to prevent racism within the sport.
But at a brief court hearing on Tuesday morning, Justice Andrew Keogh said the class action's actual claims remained unclear.
Tim Tobin SC, who is representing the footballers, told the court they needed further material from the AFL before their pleadings against the league could be lodged.
That material included hundreds of hours of broadcast footage from AFL matches that showed the alleged racial abuse, Mr Tobin said.
The league's barrister Mark Costello KC said the AFL would act appropriately and co-operate with requests for material, but only once it understood the case.
"What they should do is articulate their case in the proper way," he told the court.
"They can articulate what they want ... and we'll respond - some of it might not be an issue."
Mr Tobin maintained his clients needed more material to detail their claims, saying it would save the court time if their case was only filed once and not amended when the material was made available.
But Justice Keogh did not agree, ordering the class action file pleadings by September 9.
"We cant deal with the issue of preliminary discovery without an understanding of what the case is," he said.
The AFL will have until October 4 to respond to the class action's claims before the case returns to Victorian Supreme Court.
Justice Keogh is yet to set a date for that hearing.
AFL clubs Hawthorn and Collingwood are each facing separate legal proceedings in the Federal Court over allegations of racism.
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