>> [Blind ol Ref] Did the CESA merger result in more or less players being rostered on teams than the totals St. Giles and GFC rostered the previous year?<<

Roughly the same: 49 slightly smaller teams before versus 47 slightly larger teams after.


This was raised earlier in a thread on the formation of CESA; for the background details on the calculations used to get this answer, please see this message thread.