‘We will be relentless’: Kelly

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2009 (6241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For all the changes and all the tough talk, everything Mike Kelly has done during his short tenure as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers has built towards Thursday night.

A win in Edmonton against the Eskimos will validate the upheaval Kelly has overseen in Bomberland, while a loss will have some pushing the panic button.

It’s just one game, but for a rookie head coach that has come in with swagger and talked a fair bit of smack, getting off to a quick start would be a good thing.

The route to any win in pro football is proper preparation and Kelly put his Blue Bombers through a long and detailed workout on Sunday. While the coach says this is just another football game, most on the outside see it as something larger. Call it a ‘statement game’ or a ‘big picture game,’ folks want to see if the new regime can back up some of the talking they’ve done.

“We got a lot accomplished and I feel good about it,” said Kelly, after working his men for just over two hours on the St. James Rods practice field with a wild win tearing at them almost constantly. “It’s a new way of practising for these guys. We’ve changed our schedule and how we approach each day as we’re now in the regular season. I felt good about their intensity and their effort and how they moved from station to station. We call it the ‘games approach’ method and no periods are longer than six minutes. There’s always turnover and things are always changing. It simulates game situation.”

Kelly says he and his coaches have handed the players the schemes for the Edmonton game.

“We have our game plan ready to go. Now it’s a matter of executing it through the week and polishing up certain areas and personnel groups,” said Kelly. “We gave them their scouting reports (Sunday) and they watched film in the morning and we’re well on our way to preparing for (Edmonton).

The opportunity to be a head coach is a rare one and doing it any way but your own would be foolish. Kelly has certainly done that even if at times it’s meant rubbing some the wrong way.

Underpinning his reign of change with the Bombers, however, has been a well thought-out plan, masterful organizational skills and lots of hard work. If Kelly fails, it won’t be due to a lack of planning, but simply a failure to execute — and all administrations are prone to that.

“Knock on wood, we have stayed on schedule very well. Things have fallen into line very well,” said Kelly. “Our processes that we have in place on the football administration side have begun to run relatively smooth. I’m pleased with the way we’re progressing right now.”

In the end, Kelly and his coaching staff can only control so much, although they’ll try to go well beyond that level. Results are almost impossible to predict. Kelly understands this but does have certain expectations he wants met.

“I want us to go out and play Bomber football the way I’ve been talking about,” said the coach. “We’re going to play hard-nosed and we’re going to get after it and we’re going to play all 60 minutes. We will be relentless. That’s what I’m looking for.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca