Ahead of the curve?

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This article was published 27/04/2016 (3431 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If having a great mini-camp was all it took to win championships, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers would be two-time defending Grey Cup champions — at least.

So a healthy dose of skepticism is recommended as you parse the meaning of all the gushing praise coming out of Bomberland Wednesday, as the CFL club wrapped up what was once again “a great mini-camp.”

The Bombers, of course, also had “a great mini-camp” in Florida in 2014 and again in 2015, only to go 7-11 and 5-13, and miss the playoffs in successive seasons.

The club shifted locales for this year’s mini-camp from Florida to Winnipeg, and also changed formats from an almost all-rookie affair the last two years to a three-day boot camp this week at Investors Group Field exclusively for the brand-new offence the team will unveil this summer.

Yet, for all the changes, the script sounded identical to the last two years: this little, spring get-together was an invaluable chance for everyone to get a head start on the looming CFL season.

“We got what we needed out of it,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said Wednesday. “We’re going to have a good head start. We got in more than we thought we’d get in, and the guys showed a pretty good understanding and also the ability to learn.”

With a new offensive co-ordinator (Paul LaPolice), two new receivers (Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith) and a new tailback (Andrew Harris), there will be an inevitable learning curve for an offence that looks markedly faster and more dynamic — if the mini-camp is any indication.

By restricting this year’s mini-camp to the offence, the Bombers were hoping to trim that learning curve. But it also makes an observer wonder: what did they give up not having the defence on the field this week to challenge all those fancy new weapons and schemes?

“One-on-one competitive evaluation,” O’Shea replied. “But that will come down the road in (training camp). Remember, there was a time when we never had these (mini-camps) and we were prepared for the first game just fine.”

Bombers quarterback Drew Willy said he was a bit concerned when he heard there would be no defence to work against.

“I was kind of skeptical at the beginning… But it’s been great. We’ve gotten a lot of good work in… We were doing things at a very fast tempo and fast speed.”

The decision to hold mini-camp in Winnipeg — and to restrict it to just the offensive players — comes with cost savings for the Bombers. But it also comes after two years of the front office extolling the virtues of Florida. The southern mini-camp, the Bombers said, allowed them to take a look at a larger number of players, cast a scouting net much wider than they could in Winnipeg, and to keep up with the increasing number of CFL teams that had also moved mini-camps to Florida.

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So if it was such a good idea the last two years, did the club give up anything moving back to Winnipeg this time around?

O’Shea said no: holding mini-camp in Manitoba was the right decision given the team’s current needs and where the roster is at this moment in its evolution.

“We’re a different team now,” the coach said. “We were trying to fill a lot of holes and change different parts and pieces. And now, I think we’re in a different situation… But this could change on a yearly basis.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @PaulWiecek

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