The Brumbies mentor is closing in on a replacement for outgoing assistant coach Peter Hewat, as talks to lock McKellar and Laurie Fisher into long-term deals continue.

McKellar had a chance to join the Wallabies' staff under Dave Rennie, which would have given him a potential avenue towards a Test head coaching job down the track.

But he opted to stay in Canberra to ensure the Brumbies wouldn't have to overhaul their coaching staff following this year's Super Rugby AU triumph.

Now he wants to turn the club into the benchmark for domestic rugby union franchises around the globe and this year's championship provides the perfect launching pad.

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The Brumbies will retain 28 members from their championship-winning squad to mark their strongest player retention figure in a decade.

Academy products Billy Pollard, Lachie Albert, Tom Hooper, Luke Reimer and Rory Scott will graduate into the top squad, while three new players are set to join the Brumbies' ranks.

Tevita Kuridrani [Western Force], Joe Powell [Melbourne Rebels], Locky McCaffrey [Japan], Murray Douglas [Japan] and Toni Pulu join Blake Enever and Guy Porter [both were granted early releases this year] as the departures from the class of 2020.

"There'll be a couple of players that will come in from outside, but at this stage there are only three new players that will come into the group which is the smallest we've had in a long time," McKellar said.

"Having that core group of players who know how things are done here and what's expected of them, our culture and our environment, it makes my job easier.

"We can build on the things we're doing well now. When you've got the same group of people, it's not about re-educating or coaching them on how things are done here, we can build on what we're already doing well.

"In the current climate to make sure we retain players and not lose too many has been a real strength. It's good to know players love being here and want to stay in this environment with this club and try to win trophies.

"It was a big part of what we spoke about back in 2017 when I got the job. We wanted to make sure we had a genuine pathway for boys to play Super Rugby for the Brumbies. That's genuine now.

"Last year we got a number of guys from the Australian under 18s team who beat New Zealand, they're entrenched in our program now and they get an opportunity to step up next year."

Officials are targeting a February 20 kick-off date for the 2021 Super Rugby campaign, with the Brumbies squad set to start pre-season training midway through November.

Domestic competitions in Australia and New Zealand loom as a likely option with the potential for a crossover finals series at season's end.

McKellar hailed the Super Rugby AU tournament as "a real positive" for the code and now his attention turns to winning back-to-back titles as the Brumbies become the hunted.

"We're always looking to evolve, get better and improve. That certainly won't be changing," McKellar said.

"We understand we run a pretty good program here, we do plenty of things well but we can always get better and better. We want to be the best in the world, not just the best in Australia.

"We continue to push ourselves to get better and better every day, that's what our plan is. That's what we use this period for now, to look at how we do things and what changes we can make, and making sure we're not just repeating what we did in 2020 because that won't be good enough."