God, some of the dross i've caught up with here from the past 24hrs on this forum.
I for one hope all Aussie teams go well, i'd love it if it was the Rebels on top, but i will also be cheering on the other Aussie teams. I'd go as far as to say, if someone told me one Australian team was guaranteed to win the competition but it can't be the Rebels this year, id take it every day of the week, just because i want whats best for our struggling game.
As for stock piling of talent, the reason why i don't think any of us Rebels fans care too much, is that this is the first time money has been seriously spent on the playing roster. Despite all the administration dollars the Rebels have wasted, RA has never directed any of that towards the roster, which i believe is one of the major issues the Rebels and Force over the years have been a flop on the field and coincidentally a flop off the field. Lets not forget that last season the Tahs received almost 20x the ARU top up money of the Rebels and almost 10x that of the Force (from memory $2.4m tahs, $1.2m Reds, $1m Brums, $250k Force, $125k Rebs).
Going forward hopefully the Rebels will have some success this year which will go a long way to creating some off field success. The Tahs, fingers crossed, will stay healthy and push for a play off spot. They haven't got much depth, but hopefully a gem or 2 can come through the ranks to rectify that by seasons end. The Reds should be where RA beyond this season should be focused, retention of Tui, Rodda, DP, Perese, Tupou, (get Magnay back) should be high on their list of importance, keep these players and in 3yrs time build a very good squad around them with hopefully other kids that are just as talented as this lot is coming through the ranks to compliment what would then be an experienced veteran group. Brumbies will be fine as always.
Perfect scenario for me would be each team making a playoff appearance at least once throughout a 4 year cycle.