Perhaps it's because they've dramatically crashed out of the finals equations in the past two years, but Dave Wessels simply won't allow himself to speak of the past ahead of Saturday's do-or-die clash with the Western Force in Newcastle.
The equation is simple for the Rebels: defeat the Force by four points or more and they'll leapfrog ahead of the Waratahs, who have the bye in the final round of the regular Super Rugby AU season, and seal a a top three finals berth and qualify for the finals for the first time.
But then again, it's been simple for the past two years.
All they've needed to do in the past two years is win their final game and on both occasions they've been beaten by New Zealand opposition, including last year's embarrassing loss to the Chiefs in Melbourne.
Asked whether he'd touched on the heartbreak of the past, Wessels wouldn't dare tread near his past two seasons in charge of the Rebels and instead spoke of his pride of seeing some local talent capturing the attention of the public and, importantly, the national coaching group too.
A case of being spooked?
Not so, according to Wessels who said his side would handle the pressure.
"We honestly feel - I don't want it to sound like an arrogant thing - like we can beat every team in this comp when we play well, and I think we've proven that," Wessels said.
"But we have to play well, and I think that's been one of the challenges is to try and get a young group in particular to find that consistency.
"There's no time for excuses now.
"We're at the business end of the comp, and everyone's desperate to do that for all the people in Victoria which means a lot to us.
"So we want to do that and perform well and win this comp, which is what we set out to do in first place."
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They will face a Force side that are still searching for their maiden win of the tournament.
But the Rebels should be aware of the threat the Force still pose given they were forced to Super Time to leave Leichhardt Oval with a win back in July.
And then there's the history of the two newest franchises in Australian rugby, who were pitted against one another for survival in 2017.
The story is a well-known one and while the Force were quite naturally devastated by losing out to the Rebels, the reality is that both sides have a lot in common and players that have worn the jersey and been in the same coaching boxes.
Even this week, the two franchises have been based close to one another on the Central Coast of NSW but not that they've exchanged pleasantries.
"It's been a bit quite on that front," Wessels said, not wanting to give the Force any further motivation leading into their final match of the season.
"They're just around the corner at Avoca, which is normally where I like to go for my afternoon swim so I haven't been able to do that this week because they're in my backyard.
"We had a nice catch up at the end of the last game.
"There's a lot of people there that we know pretty well, so it was nice to see them.
"To be honest I think they're playing well.
"We're going to have to play well because they're playing with a lot of spirit and they'll be wanting to finish the season on a high."
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His return and the minor knock to Campbell Magnay has forced a backline tweak, with Reece Hodge shifting to outside centre and Matt To'omua to fly-half which allows Billy Meakes to come in at inside centre.
Meanwhile, the Force have made minimal changes to their side with Brynard Stander coming in at openside flanker and Byron Ralston returning on the wing which sees Kyle Godwin shift to outside centre and see Richard Kahui drop out of the squad.
Western Force v Melbourne Rebels at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle. Kick off: 3pm AEST, Saturday 5 September.
Force (1-15): Pek Cowan, Andrew Ready, Kieran Longbottom, Jeremy Thrush, Ollie Atkins, Fergus Lee Warner, Brynard Stander, Henry Stowers, Ian Prior (c), Jono Lance, Marcel Brache, Henry Taefu, Kyle Godwin, Byron Ralston, Jack McGregor
Reserves: Heath Tessmann, Chris Heiberg, Dominic Hardman, Johan Bardoul, Kane Koteka, Nick Frisby, Nick Jooste, Jake Strachan
Rebels (1-15): Cameron Orr, Jordan Uelese, Jermaine Ainsley, Matt Philip, Trevor Hosea, Michael Wells, Richard Hardwick, Isi Naisarani, James Tuttle, Matt To'omua, Marika Koroibete, Bill Meakes, Reece Hodge, Tom Pincus, Dane Haylett-Petty (c)
Reserves: Efitusi Ma'afu, Cabous Eloff, Matt Gibbon, Michael Stolberg, Brad Wilkin, Frank Lomani, Andrew Deegan, Lachie Anderson
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