Kicks gone with wind at Blue booting tryout

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This article was published 17/08/2010 (5844 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Compared to this, Percival Molson Stadium should be a walk in the park.

A stiff northwest breeze with gusts in the 50 km/h range greeted the players for Day 2 of the kicking competition at Canad Inns Stadium, as non-imports Warren Kean and Justin Palardy tried to impress the Winnipeg Blue Bombers coaching staff with their ability to coax a field goal though the uprights and convince all kickoffs to stay between the lines.

No reports of tornados touching down in the Polo Park area Monday, but with the way the winds swirled around the uprights, ruby slippers would have been a more effective cleat for the Bomber hopefuls.

"It was pretty tough out there, that’s for sure," offered Palardy after practice. "You kick the ball one way and it goes the opposite way before it comes down. You don’t know. Even with the wind, you don’t know what the ball is going to do. One kick, it got a hold of a ball and just carried it away."

The uprights swayed and flags were stiff in the howling wind. Footballs, once they started to roll, waddled along the turf like they were part of some sumo wrestling halftime show.

"It was like a brick wall," a wide-eyed Kean said of the north end zone conditions. "It feels like the wind is going one way, but if you actually walk towards the end zone, you can feel it going the opposite direction. You could see that with our kicks. It looks good right until the 10-yard line and then it just stops and falls off. It will take some getting used to.

"I’m not accustomed to aiming outside the uprights to make a field goal, but that’s what you have to do. It’s not a comfortable feeling."

A third kicker, Ryan Elaschuk, was just dust in the wind, as he didn’t take a turn in the limited "kick to win" contest the team provided the media Monday afternoon (he was let go later in the day). The real competition was held an hour before practice even started, with Kean and Palardy each taking 30 to 40 boots from various ranges and situations in front of head coach Paul LaPolice and special-teams coach Kyle Walters.

"I’ve kicked more balls in the last two days than I kicked in two weeks in camp with Calgary," said Kean, who’s riding a losing streak after dropping out to former Bomber Alexis Serna in a 2008 Winnipeg kicking battle, then coming up short against Rob Maver in Stampeders camp earlier this year.

LaPolice wouldn’t tip his hand on what direction the club is leaning for the spot — a position that’s now vacant, thanks to a bizarre calf injury to Louie Sakoda. Sakoda won’t dress for the Montreal game on Thursday, but could be back for the Labour Day Classic following the bye week.

The wind wasn’t the only thing the Kean and Palardy had to contend with Monday. Noticing a difference in demeanour in the two when kicking before the other players, LaPolice had both kickers take turns in front of the whole team at the end of practice and asked the players to distract the tryout with some playful hooting and hollering.

"There’s what, 20 guys out there? If you can’t kick in front of that, how are you going to kick it in front of 20,000 people?" Kean laughed.

Kean appears to have the inside track for the gig, holding the advantage of having worked with his would-be holder and would-be long snapper before. Edmonton’s first-round choice in the 2007 draft not only spent a year with Bombers punter Mike Renaud at Concordia, but also has seen a lot of long-snapper Taylor Inglis from their days with the Eskimos.

The club expects to name their new kicker before Wednesday.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca