The Bombers’ take on the Canadian talent issue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2010 (5451 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GM Joe Mack on homegrown prod­ucts, the draft and holding the No. 1 pick in 2011:

MACK’S PHILOSOPHY ON SCOUTING AND FINDING CANADIANS: “The Canadian depth is obviously something we have to build up. Myself, the coaching staff, the board, our fans have to understand that’s going to be a growing process. It’s not something you can correct within a season. It’s something that is probably going to take two or three years before we can get that content back up again.

“You need good Canadians to be a championship team and be solid in the long term. I think we have good Can­adians, we just don’t have the depth we’d like.”

HIS APPROACH TO FIXING UP THE CANADIAN DEPTH: “We’re going to change that philoso­phy and be very prudent about trading away Canadian draft picks. We’re going to also continue to work to find guys who may have already been through the draft who are out there. We’ve found some players we think can com­pete and help us that way: (defensive back) Jerry-Ralph Jules before he got hurt, (safety) James Green, (defensive end) Fernand Kashama and (offensive lineman) Chris Kowalczuk is someone we want to develop.

“I’m of the feeling that we’re going to beat the bushes and we’re going to find American players. As a general phil­osophy, I’d be reluctant to trade away draft picks or Canadians for an import. I think we can find those.”

HIS THOUGHTS ON TRADING DOWN IN THE DRAFT FROM THE FIRST SPOT OVERALL IN AN EFFORT TO GET MORE SELECTIONS: “We’ll certainly be open to that heading into this year’s draft to see if we can stockpile extra picks. That may mean jockeying around or moving around in the draft to try and pick them up.”

ON SPENDING MONEY IN FREE AGENCY TO CHASE CANADIAN TAL­ENT: “It would depend on the player and the position. What everybody has to understand, too, is we’re also in a salary-cap era. And so, while you may want a guy and are aggressive in get­ting going after him… you have to allo­cate whether the player is worth it but whether it’s worth it at that position.”