I am staring to wonder;
a) How many Rebels 2017 squad will be there in 2018?
b} of the remaining 2017 Rebels, how many will be starters?
c) are the ex-Force imports under a true of faux salary cap due to honouring contracts / reallocation / dispensations / top-ups?
d) will the same squad be able to retained in 2019 under a normalised salary cap (if its imposed)?
e) how many fringe / development players who had potential opportunities are now closed off and how many back office / supports staff will go as ex-force staff are brought in?
e} how do Rebel supports feel about 2018 as it looks more and more like the Force team playing in a Rebels colours with a Force set up and what the Rebels built such as culture, history, pathways etc mostly overlooked or appearing fairly redundant?
f) will this seemingly "manufactured" Rebels team capture the hearts minds of the Melbourne rugby community and get the same levels of support even if successful?
a) Sa'aga, Weeks, Hanson, Uelese, Cummins, Jeffries, Toolis, Fainga'a, Leota, Mafi, Timani, Stirzaker, Goddard, McGregor, Hodge, Tuipulotu, English, Koroibete, Naivalu, Maddocks - currently 20 with some uncertain. Not unusual really - the Rebels have lost 11-13 players each year of whom a couple are in their top 3-4 players (2013 - lost Delve, Phipps, O'Connor, Vuna, Beale, 2014 - lost Pyle and Woodward, 2015 - lost Higgenbotham, 2016 - lost Jones, Ellison, Harris, 2017 - lost McMahon, Smith)
b) definite starters - Hanson/Uelese, Mafi, Timani, Hodge, Koroibete, Naivalu
c) who knows
d) who knows but I can't think that the squad is any more expensive than the Waratahs squad
e) Probably the main concerns would be Leota and Tuipulotu from a local perspective at the moment but they are both only 20 so have some development time. Uelese has been lucky with his Wallabies picks but has taken his opportunities and that probably puts him in a much better position than he was before hand
eii) Couldn't care. 2017 was as crap as it could possibly be. There will still be a strong core of Rebels players 0 the 6 above. 2 very strong other recruits - Parling and Genia and hopefully 2 strong Force recruits - DHP and Coleman. That leaves 5 spaces left of which Lance is definitely better than the existing Rebels players and Hardwick is a replacement for McMahon (although not quite at the same level but maybe could actually play more games). The three remaining places are probably centre and 2 props. Centre could be English, Meekes or Horwitz. Props - probably Faulkner and Weeks/Ainsley (noting that the Rebels lost Smith). From a coaching perspective, I am very very happy to get rid of our coach and get a decent game plan. I don't think one of the Rebels players has improved in performance from the start of 2016 other than Koroibete who is relearning the game. I definitely hope that coming back from the game will feel different as I haven't seen a win live for a bloody long time (I missed the Brumbies match I doubt whether the team will feel that different other than hopefully winning more games.
f) I think the Melbourne Storm crowds would give you a really good answer here. Not like the initial Rebels squad wasn't a manufactured. Of course, the overall malaise around Super Rugby may make decent crowds impossible for any team. The Brumbies and Force were by far the best of the Australian teams and were getting crowds under 9000 for many games.