Rider training camp: Fans get to ask the tough questions at State of the Nation event

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It was the fans’ turn to ask the Saskatchewan Roughriders brass some (tough?) questions.

The Green and White Nation once again had an opportunity to participate directly in the Riders’ annual State of the Nation event at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex in Saskatoon.

Fans — young and old — took their turn on the microphone with an assortment of queries for the Riders panel consisting of Roughrider head coach Corey Mace, general manager Jeremy O’Day and team president Craig Reynolds.

Here’s a sampling of what transpired:

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YOUNG FAN: With (Frankie) Hickson gone, who do you think is going to fill in at the No. 2 running back role?

MACE: Great question. Look, we’ve got a couple of backs that you’ll see. My guy Mario Anderson is an unbelievable running back. He’s still getting used to the (Canadian) game, as are the other young guys. Trevor Pennix, he’s awesome as well. And we’ve still got what we like to call Thomas the Train (Thomas Bertrand-Hudon). So we feel good about the guys we brought in. They all have different skill-sets. Penix, you’re going to see him, he looks like a linebacker who’s as fast as a running back. Thomas the Train is steady. And then Mario had, just last year in college, something like 1,600 or 1,800 total yards in offence. So we were pleased to get him in there. We feel confident. It’ll be good to see them versus someone else just to validate what we think, but again, it’s another position we felt we had pretty good depth at.

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FAN: Having watched UFL on TV from the States, is there any thought in the league given to attracting a significant American TV contract, possibly moving the season forward by a week, just to get the product? Because in my humble opinion the CFL is five times the calibre of football that the UFL is and they’re getting big bucks from FOX.

REYNOLDS: It’s an excellent observation and we’ve had a lot of success actually with CBS Sports Network that our games are all simulcast on CBS Sports Network down in the States and they’ve been really pleased with the viewership and there’s good exposure there … To answer your question, that’s certainly on top of mind. Obviously the market there is quite large. They have a huge appetite for football, as we know. And it’s not just our Canadian television rights are up in 2026. Our global television rights are also up in 2026 so we’re looking at it from a global perspective, with Canada as the key, but also what does that mean for the U.S. growth?

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FAN: Considering all the things that influence wins and losses, what’s the one statistic or that one factor that you want to be owning in the CFL, whether it’s sacks, or second-down conversions or something like that — that one statistic?

MACE: WINS! (Loud laughter and applause from the fans). No doubt. Obviously joking but not. For us, we call it ‘obsession for possession’ and that’s in relation to the football. There’s only one out there during the game and we’re trying to get it across, and do everything we can to possess it when we have it and do everything we can to get it when we don’t. Certainly I think our turnover ratio played well for us last year … We are obsessed with it so we talk about it every day and we champion it every day. That’s probably the main one I’d have to go with.

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FAN: We’ve been hearing a lot about this Daniel Wiebe. What’s your take on that?

MACE: Nobody calls him Daniel Wiebe. We call him Peter Parker. That’s his nickname in the locker room. He’s been doing an outstanding job. One thing I’ll say, in the interview process and we sat him down at Mosaic and interviewed him. One of us asked him, ‘You’re not the biggest guy in the world. Do you think you can play at this level?’ And he said, ‘I would just ask you to watch Weston Dressler.’ And, right there, I was, like, I like this kid.

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FAN: The thing I’m really excited about (are) the two quarterbacks over from Calgary so now we can finally get a third down (crowd applauds) and the other question is (free agency) money. Is there a limit to what you can spend so that, say, an Eugene Lewis or Kenny Lawlor can be attracted to a place like Saskatchewan?

O’DAY: It’s great that they put in a salary cap and the first thing that a Rider fan asks is how we can get more above it? I like that. (Laughs). It kind of defeats the purpose of the cap. That’s good. Truth is, it’s not an unlimited number. Our last commissioner, everything he tried to do was make it a fair playing field for every team so that every team has an opportunity to win every year. That was the implementation of the salary cap. I would just say that, in the salary cap world, you can’t have the best quarterback and the best O-line and the best receivers and the best D-line. You have to piece your team together and it has to work financially. In some areas, you’re going to have more money and you’re going to spend more money and other areas you’re going to hope you have some younger players and spend a little less on the salary cap. When it comes to free agency, Corey will give his list of guys and I’ll look at it and go, ‘I’m not sure that’s realistic.’ And he’ll go, ‘Well, you asked me who I want.’ It’s not the grocery store where you can pick whatever you want. We try to make it work.

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FAN: Our centre that we got from Calgary (Sean McEwen), is there any update on him?

MACE: Unfortunately Sean suffered an injury that’s going to keep him out for a while, guys. You guys are going to be the first to get that information here right now. And it sucks. It sucks for him more than anything. You feel for Sean, but he made it very clear that he wants to get his finger sized (for a Grey Cup ring). So he’s going to do everything he can to help us, still. He’ll remain with us in some form or fashion and he’s a heck of a mind. In talking with him, he said, ‘I know I’ve only been here for this amount of days but there’s something different here.’ It’s good to hear that validation from somebody coming from the outside in. Just an unfortunate situation and unfortunate part of football.

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FAN: Last year, it seemed like the CFL Command Centre was really biased towards our team. Has anything changed since last year?

REYNOLDS: The question is how do we answer this without getting fined?

MACE: Here’s what I will say: I know what it seems and I will certainly, in some situations, say ‘Ha, that’s a great point.’ However, what I will say is that, sitting through the league meetings and rules meetings and sitting with the representative from the officials, and trust me, they want to get it right. They really do. But they are going to do a little changing up in the Command Centre, making sure it’s the same crew so there’s continuity there. But they want to get it right like everybody else … They’re trying. Hopefully they’ll try a little more for us.

dzary@postmedia.com

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