I personally think for all of those in the holdpool (including myself) it might be time to swallow the bitter pill and assume this time round it just wont happen. For the recruitment team to be bold enough to say at this stage they expect no offers to be made to those in the pool in 2018 means just that and they wouldnt send that message out without a strong belief in it based on whats infront of them. Like many (i assume) im gutted but i think being hopefull (especially at this stage) is probably more detrimental than positive.