Searching for STAYING POWER

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This article was published 20/06/2010 (5648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — They ran out onto the turf at Ivor Wynne Stadium on a scorching afternoon dressed up as Winnipeg Blue Bombers and were greeted by a handful of autograph hounds en route.

How many of these 55 players will jump off the page in this last-chance dress rehearsal and earn the right to wear Bomber colours — and scratch their names as autographs — on a permanent basis?

“Most of the guys understand the situation of there being only two pre-season games and a limited roster,” said Bombers defensive co-ordinator Kavis Reed, “so not a lot of emphasis has been placed on communicating that to them. They know what’s at stake.

“What we told the guys is it’s about staying power. Make certain you do things properly every single time and don’t worry about if something bad happens to you. It’s how you respond to that. There isn’t a player out here who is going to have a perfect game. We don’t expect that. We expect them to be consistent, we expect them to be competitive. We expect them to be smart and not take stupid penalties and we expect them to be assignment-conscientious.

“If a guy makes five plays but he screwed up on 10, then we can see an inconsistency there that may hurt us in a long season.”

This is a Bomber team still with a ton of question marks and vacancies, but a number of veterans have been left in Winnipeg while the rest of the roster is evaluated. (Incidentally, head coach Paul LaPolice was so ill Saturday morning he did not accompany the team on its flight, but was to arrive later and expected to be on the sidelines Sunday afternoon).

“A lot of guys have already started separating themselves from the first pre-season game,” Reid said. “The biggest thing we’re looking for is guys who can play fundamentally sound football and compete against one of the best teams in the league because (Hamilton) is going to play a lot of their starters on offence and defence. We also need them to show that they have the conditioning to go through a CFL season because a lot of these young kids are coming from 12-game seasons in the NCAA or CIS.

“We’re looking at every spot. We’ve gone with the mentality that we’re always looking critically at the guys we’ve brought in and give them a fair opportunity to earn a position on the team. Being a new regime we’ve looked at everything truly with the eyes that everything is new.”

One of those players who used last week’s game to make a solid first impression is Queen’s linebacker Chris Smith, the Bombers’ second pick (28th overall) in the 2010 draft. Today, he’ll step into the field with about 20 friends, family and ex-teammates in the crowd hoping to watch him lock up a roster spot.

“It’s especially important for me — if I’m going to make this team — to perform well,” Smith said. “I’m going to be ready to go. It’s been a long two-three weeks, but I’m really excited to play the game. I think I showed last week that I can do a few things and I’m looking forward to showing that I can do even more.

“You need to keep that end goal of making the team in mind. At the same time you can’t get too far outside of yourself thinking about that and forget that you’ve got nothing locked up. If you start thinking too far ahead, ‘Oh, it’s going to be awesome when I make this team,’ then you’re probably going to make mistakes. We’re not guaranteed anything. You could get cut the very next day.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca