The Rebels are set to be without two of their most experienced players for the rest of the Super Rugby AU season as the challenges of life on the road and increasing coronavirus restrictions come to the fore.
Melbourne have been on the road for six weeks after initially relocating to Canberra on June 24 ahead of their Super Rugby AU opener.
A handful of Rebels players remained in Melbourne when the squad moved, mainly because of injuries, and that group, which includes club captain Tom English, vice-captain Angus Cottrell, hooker Anaru Rangi and lock Ross Haylett-Petty, looks unlikely to be able to rejoin the squad.
Starting halfback Ryan Louwrens has joined the injured list this week as well, his season over after biceps surgery.
Frank Lomani will start in his place and luckless former Reds scrumhalf James Tuttle will come into the frame for his first Rebels appearance.
"We're fortunate, we've got Frank Lomani who's a test nine in the wings, he's a very good player and "Bobby" Tuttle was captaining the Reds before he got injured so we've got some depth there at nine," he said.
"That's sometimes how it goes in team sport, the guy can prepare and he feels like he's going nowhere in the bibs team for a couple of weeks and then suddenly he's called upon and that's his moment and he's got to be ready for that.
"We are also trying to get the balance right between keeping everyone on tour engaged as well as making sure that our performances are improving week to week.
"We're not running a nightclub, it's not take a ticket get a turn sort of thing, guys have got to make sure their performances in training and there's a number of changes this week."
At the time the Rebels moved, it wasn't clear exactly the length of time for which they would be away, with Victoria still only in the early stages of what has now become a new coronavirus peak.
Since then, the borders between Victoria and NSW have been closed and the entire state has been declared a hotspot by Queensland premier Annastacia Palszczuk, preventing non-residents from entering the state.
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Cottrell, who is a Queensland resident, looms as the only player who could be an outside chance of linking up with the team and Wessels he had spoken with the backrower about that possibility.
The Rebels coach was quick to say, though, that the team wasn't expecting to receive any kind of unusual exemption.
"We've had a chat with Gus yesterday, trying to get him because he's a Queensland resident, trying to get him into quarantine in Queensland and then trying to bring him out but it is hard," he said.
"We also understand that there's some bigger issues at play here.
"While we're working hard to try and make that happen, I think we in a sense, I think we also understand we don't have the right to be treated differently to other industries or other people that are struggling with the same stuff so we are trying behind the scenes to make that happen.
"Whether or not we're able to do that, we're not sure."
Super Rugby AU teams have been abiding by strict biosecurity protocols and as such have been cleared for chartered travel for games but players at home are not included in that.
While the Rebels and Force have been hit hardest when it comes to coronavirus restrictions, unable to play any games in their home bases, the Brumbies, Reds and Waratahs have been able to keep their routines fairly normal.
Arguably the Brumbies have been the most stable and Wessels pointed out the advantage the Canberra side had in that respect, when asked about the absences of some of his key players.
"I think the thing is we've been on tour for a long time now, I think it's nearly coming up to seven weeks and every game in this competition for us is away," he said.
"We're playing under very different circumstances to the Brumbies who sleep every night in their own bed, they use their own training facility.
"Life's pretty cruisy when you're a Brumby, and I think Dan and his team have done a ood job of keeping consistency of their roster.
"I think of all the teams, they're kind of the least disrupted, I know they lost Noah (flyhalf Noah Lolesio), but other than that it's really the team that they've been playing with all year but I think when you look across to other teams, there's a lot of new faces and I think Australian rugby should be excited by that.
"They've got a long way to go still but we've unearthed, all teams have unearthed some pretty special talent over the last couple of weeks and that's a real positive for us."
The Rebels' backs depth has been tested in recent weeks but the side will be boosted by the return of Campbell Magnay this weekend.
Andrew Kellaway stepped into 13 against the Force but will return to the wing this weekend.
Wessels laid down the gauntlet to his backs to go to a new level against the Brumbies.
"We feel our young forward pack have been going well but we've lacked a bit of cohesion in our backs," he said.
"Campbell's an out and out 13 and spends all of his training time there.
"He'll make a big impression for us I think just in terms of linking the inside and outside of our attack and creating some rhythm for them.
"This is an important game, particularly for our backs, who will need to take a step up in this game."
Wessels has handed the playmaking reins to Andrew Deegan for the clash against the Brumbies, pushing Matt To'omua to 12 and said he had complete faith in the youngster to perform.
"He's really trained his way into the team, he's really trained with a lot of intensity and enthusiasm, it's been hard not to select him," he said.
"Probably saw many years ago in the Waratahs that you select a 10 that hasn't played for a long time and they selected him in a big game and it didn't work for them.
"If a guy's good enough to start and may play a real pivotal role in the final then he needs to get the correct amount of exposure leading into those finals so if he's called upon at the time the team feels comfortable with him, he feels comfortable in the role and "Deegs" is one of those guys whose earned that."
The Brumbies take on the Rebels on Friday August 7 at Leichhardt Oval, kicking off at 7:05pm AEST, LIVE on Foxtel, Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports. Buy tickets here. Buy a Kayo subscription here.
