Fairfax Media understands the ARU will announce a 2016 surplus of about $3 million at its annual general meeting on April 10. It will be the first time the code has been in the black since the Lions delivered a $19.5 million surplus in 2013 and the best result outside that once-in-12-years tour since at least 2006.

While the news is good for the cash-strapped governing body, which has undertaken a brutal cost-saving drive under the leadership of chief executive Bill Pulver, the figure itself could be seen as well below expectations, given 2016 saw Australia host a sold-out June Test series against England and the first year of revenue from a record $285 million broadcast deal the ARU signed in December 2015. That deal, which was boosted by competitive tension in the British pay television market, delivered a 148 per cent hike in revenue on the previous five-year deal.

The ARU's bailout of the Western Force, which is understood to have cost the governing body about $3 million, appears to have eaten into the cash windfall, as has an $8 million increase from the previous year in direct cash funding of the five Super Rugby clubs. There is now a worry that a total Super Rugby funding figure of $33 million in 2016 could have put in jeopardy the ARU's goal of having $10 million 'future fund' up and running by 2020.

There is no escaping the fact that the conditions influencing the bottom lines of all five franchises were set when the ARU agreed to the discredited 18-team Super Rugby format now under review. That factor continues to enrage the five club bosses, not least the three who find themselves on the chopping block amid speculation the ARU has agreed to surrender one licence to salvage Super Rugby's credibility.

Melbourne Rebels owner Andrew Cox blasted the cone of silence brought down on negotiations after the SANZAAR partners Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina agreed a preferred model in London earlier this month. Cox said two weeks of speculation had all but halted the Rebels' membership drive.

"This whole thing has been a real mess and is massively impacting membership sales, which have certainly dried up for the Rebels at the moment and I understand have also slowed at the Brumbies and Force," he said.

"That's not all about team performance. We would normally continue sales momentum right through until May based on last year and previous seasons. We had 6500 members this time last year and pushed through to just under 10,000, whereas this year we have pulled up dead at 5500.

"It is such a sad thing for our game, and so disappointing we're in this situation when there is also very little by way of counter argument coming out of the ARU to arrest the narrative."

There was also speculation this week the Victorian government was threatening to back away from its involvement in rugby if the ARU could not guarantee a future for the Rebels, which were the last Australian team added to Super Rugby in 2011.

A proposed joint-rugby league and rugby union centre of excellence, funded by the state government and based at Latrobe University, is reportedly under a cloud, while there was also speculation a suite of Bledisloe Cup fixtures at the MCG could be under threat. It is understood the ARU has no concerns about the commitment of the Victorian Government to any planned Bledisloe Cup Tests.

Cox added his voice to calls for an independent commission to run Super Rugby and warned while there was a healthy appetite for live sport in Australia, teams would fold without more home games.

"People want to connect with sporting clubs. Here in Melbourne, whether it's the Storm, Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory or all the footy clubs, crowds at games are continuing to grow, year on year. They had 75,000 at the AFL [season opener on Thursday] night," he said.

"I don't hold with the excuse that rugby is getting worse and worse. Sport goes through cycles, but we won't get any better as businesses if we don't give our fans and members more content. They love derbies? Give them more derbies."