Blue pleased with evolution of Canadian talent

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This article was published 28/05/2012 (5194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice says the only meaningful test of how his club performed in the off-season will have to come on the field during the upcoming 2012 CFL season.

“We’re continuing to make changes to help us improve and we’re adapting to any changes that come our way,” LaPolice told a news conference Monday afternoon, held in advance of the opening of Bombers rookie camp this Wednesday. “I think people’s decisions are based on how good they did not in the off-season, it’s based on how they do at the end of the season.

“All that other stuff doesn’t really matter.”

For the second winter in a row, Bombers GM Joe Mack was the least active general manager in the CFL in terms of free agent signings, with the addition of former Als defensive tackle Ryan Lucas counting among the very few pickups of CFL veterans.

Instead, Mack has once again chosen to hope that the continuing maturing of what will likely once again be the youngest team in the league — plus the addition of some new young talent to replace the departure of some key veterans — will be enough to once again confound his critics, who predicted disaster for the Bombers at this time last season after Mack stood pat with a 4-14 2010 team only to watch in wonder as the 2011 Bombers went all the way to the Grey Cup game.

Asked on Monday to identify the one area where the Bombers have improved most during the off-season, LaPolice instead brought up the bigger picture of the evolution of the club’s Canadian talent, which was very meagre when Mack and LaPolice took over prior to the 2010 season.

“I think our Canadian talent is continuing to get better compared to where we were a couple years ago,” LaPolice said. “There’s only four players left out of the Canadians that (were with the team) when we got here. Brady Browne, Ian Logan, Steven Morley and Chris Cvetkovic are the only Canadians that are left out of the 22 or 24 Canadians that were here.

“So I think that’s the biggest gain — we’ve got really good depth at Canadian spots…We’re probably still going to be one of the youngest teams in the CFL and that bodes well for what they accomplished last year.”

FIELD NOTES — LaPolice said he expects the club’s first draft pick in the 2012 CFL entry draft — OL Tyson Pencer — will be signed and at rookie camp by Wednesday. LaPolice said Pencer is the last of the club’s draft picks still yet to sign. Pencer said last week that he also expected to sign…An unidentified receiver and defensive back will be the final additions to the Bombers roster this week before rookie camp opens, LaPolice said…LaPolice said the club will give big non-import rookie receiver Johnny Aprile a look at free-safety and on special teams…LaPolice said that he’s hoping to double the crowd of 4,500 that showed up for the opening day of full training camp last year when the club opens this year’s full camp on Sunday. Gates open at 9 a.m. and practice will run until about 1 p.m.. Concessions will be open, some gift cards will be handed out for free subs and there will be a dunk tank with a Riders fan in it. “We want everyone to come out and celebrate,” said LaPolice.