Balanced Willy leads to success

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/08/2015 (4047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A little bit of anger and frustration is only natural. It doesn’t often come with accolades — unless, of course, you’re Drew Willy.

A pinch of piss and a slight slathering of vinegar morphed into Willy’s impressive performance against the B.C. Lions and ultimately a nod from the CFL as one of its performers of the week.

For Willy, it was all in the mentality.

“Maybe a little frustrated, a little angry but at the same time focused,” Willy said. “Just trying to put those three all together and really try and bring your teammates up to a higher level.

“I thought we had good communication as a offence out there, everybody was picking each other up and confidence was high.”

Willy always tries to be cool-headed, but even he has his moments, as he puts it. And while he never alluded to what made him bitter, Willy did say he needs to be cautious about it in his repertoire.

“There’s sometimes, just like any individual — any human — there’s some anger,” Willy said. “But for me, playing the quarterback position, you want to stay calm, cool and collected inside. It’s just one of those things, you have to have a good balance.”

It wouldn’t be Willy, or any other quarterback for that matter, if he didn’t deflect most of the honour onto his teammates.

“It’s a team award,” Willy said. “I couldn’t do it without the guys that I have, so any time we can get an award like that probably means we won the game. That’s the main focus and I’m just glad we got the win.”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, meanwhile, said he’s going to make sure to agitate Willy as the week progresses heading into the Week 7 contest in Hamilton.

“I’m going to poke him with pins,” O’Shea said, jokingly.

“You want him to play at a consistent level and you want to prepare consistently every week and sometimes you find yourself in a frame of mind you might not have ventured before, and if it lends to success then you try and look for that again.”

— — —

O’Shea said he’s still hopeful Stanley Bryant will play this week when the Bombers take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday.

The veteran offensive lineman missed his second day of practice this week with an undisclosed ailment.

Chris Greaves, who took a back seat last week when Patrick Neufeld returned to the lineup, saw reps at Bryant’s right tackle spot.

Defensive linemen Bryant Turner and Greg Peach are still another week away.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.