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As mentioned, Neufeld and Harris were sitting out today. The first-team offence was : Matthews-Washington-Adams-Demski-Wolitarsky Bryant-Desjarlais-Couture-Gray-Hardrick Nichols at QB, Augustine at RB. I had a tougher time nailing down the second team offence, but it definitely had OIiveira at RB, Streveler at QB, Simonise and Petermann as receivers. Looked like the other receiver spots were Rasheed Bailey, Kenny Lawler, and Tim Wilson but I'm not 100% sure on those ones... I think they might have switched it up a couple times. The OL looked like Speller at centre, Koczwara at guard, and Briggs/Baker on at the tackle spots... couldn't see who else was at guard. I can't give you the defence at the moment, I was locked in on the offence most of the time. Derek Jones was definitely the #1 safety and he is looking slim, trim and healthy. Great to see. One thing I can say for certain is that we are going to be absolutely deadly in the redzone with both Darvin Adams and Chris Matthews. Already some chemistry developing between Nichols and Matthews. Wolitarsky looked great as well, Bauming tweeted out his huge catch to start off the practice. Hardrick grabbed the ball right after and tried to punt it into the crowd but it went straight up instead... that got a big laugh from everyone. Love that guy. I'm interested to see if we can find room for one of Larry Rose III or John Santiago... both looked really quick but they were not getting reps in the first two offence units. Rose III in particular I thought looked pretty dangerous. As expected, Bennett was running with the third team offence but surrendered some reps to McGuire as well. Sawyer Buettner actually got one rep which I was surprised to see. It was an overthrow that almost got picked but good for the kid getting some action in. Should be lots of good competition at returner and the hands team gets a boost with the additions of Chris Matthews and Willie Jefferson... yes Willie Jefferson. 6'6" with receiver experence and he was getting some reps in on specials. The returner competition looked like it involves Charles Nelson, Lucky Whitehead, and John Santiago.... definitely a few other guys back there too but it was hard to see exactly who. Nic Demski is still involved as well. Overall it was very much a "day 1" outing... hard to get a good read on anyone and it's wise not to jump to any conclusions. The starters looked best.... Wolitarsky, Nichols, Matthews, Adams. Augustine looked comfortable at RB and Oliveira is going to have to win that backup job from him... don't see Augustine letting go without a fight. If I had to pick one new receiver who showed well it would be Kenny Lawler... looks like he has pretty good hands and I like his build as well... looks like a pro receiver to me. Nice day for some football. Noticed they have ripped all the seats out in the northeast and southeast corners in the lower bowl. Not sure what that's all about.

Can you get a job with the Free Press?

Nichols became the starter in 2016, went 10-3 and got us into the playoffs. Went 11-6 his next year as our starter, and in his “bad” year went 9-5. It’s time people got off his back, he has enough of a load to shoulder trying to carry the offence with Harris without these negative fan rankings about how our back up QB is always better. Everyone loved Streveler until he actually had to carry the team for an extended period in the Banjo Bowl, and we saw that he wasn’t really the saviour he was anointed as based on spot duty. Love Streveler’s game, but our best hope is that he has lots of mop up duty and the odd sequence to shake things up. A healthy Nichols is our best option, IMO.

That’s a fair point but a rookie in their first four career starts can’t be judged on the same scale as an 8 year veteran. Streveler showed more out of a rookie QB than anyone we’ve seen since I’ve been following the team at the very least. And while he is far from a certain answer, Nichols absolutely needs to have a short leash. He’s getting the benefit of the doubt essentially based on one full season of good results two years ago. We have just as large a sample of him being bad than him being good. And one of those Streveler losses was the season opener against Edmonton where he put up 30-something points and the defence blew it. Can’t put that one on him.

I have no clue as to why I want this guy to succeed over the others... but man I do.

I'm impressed:

Day one training camp - Nichols vs Streveler debate... fun.

what a weird story about Thompkins...hopefully the guy is alright. Super weird that you wouldn't contact anyone...

Then Derek Taylor throws out this little stat...I don’t have an overwhelming range of stats for LBs, but Konar missed 23% of his tackle opportunities in last two seasons. Average for a LB is about 15%

Its funny but its almost like he's undervalued because he's 'Canadian'... if he didn't have Cdn passport, we'd all be pumped at finally 'discovering' our import receiver 650 yards in his first real season is great - I'd love to see him take Dressler's spot to be honest

Finding mid round steals that other teams slept on is always more satisfying.

there's no such thing as a boring Bombers game, but pre-season games are always better on the radio. Irving has been following the team through TC and knows all the players. TSN has no clue about any of the newbies, so they're worse than useless...

Joey Alfieri@joeyalfieri #CFL sources tell me that owners and players have agreed to go with the original CBA that was in place before everything fell apart earlier today

(2019 Main Training Camp Can’t remember a start to a main training camp where, even though we have openings at several spots (7?), we seem to have prepared to fill those spots with quality players and good prospects. Highlights coming into camp are the signings of Willie Jefferson and most certainly Chris Mathews. Not to mention the signing of all our draft choices, some of whom could be dynamic. We got bigger and better at receiver prospects. We’ve stacked the defensive line to make it easier for Bighill. We’ve added defensive backs and linebackers to fill any perceived shortcomings. Little by little, day by day, shortcomings will be noticed and those players will fall by the wayside. It’s training camp and the veterans will teach the newbies..in more than one way. Today, medicals and film room. Good luck to all. Let’s put out the best lineup we possibly can. OFFENSIVE LINEMEN Stanley Bryant*. Jermarcus Hardrick* Patrick Neufeld Michael Couture. Geoff Gray. Drew Desjarlais Manase Foketi*. Cody Speller. Asotui Eli Ben Koczwara. Matthew Ouellet de Carlo. Delroy Baker Jr.* Chauncey Briggs*. Kendall Calhoun* DEFENSIVE LINE Jackson Jeffcoat*. Willie Jefferson*. Drake Nevis* Brandin Bryant*. Craig Roh*. Jake Thomas Patrick Choudja*. Alex McCallister*. Steven Richardson* Maxx Forde*. Connor Griffiths. Tariq Lachance Evan Perrizo* LINEBACKERS Adam Bighill*. Jesse Briggs. Shayne Gauthier Thiadric Hansen***. Manuel Hernandez-Reyes***. Jonathan Kongbo (Inj) D.J. Lalama. Thomas Miles. Nick Temple* Dale Warren*. Kyrie Wilson* DEFENSIVE BACKS Brandon Alexander*. Elijah Battle*. Christian Boutte* Malik Boynton*. Amari Coleman*. Abu Conteh Tyneil Cooper*. Joe Este*. Kerfalla Exume Chandler Fenner*. Jacob Firlotte. Anthony Gaitor* Payton Hall. Nick Hallett. Jeff Hecht Chris Humes*. Dexter Janke*. Derek Jones Mike Jones*. Marcus Rios*. Winston Rose* Marcus Sayles*. Sergio Schiaffino-Perez*** RECEIVERS Darvin Adams*. Chris Matthews*. Nic Demski Drew Wolitarsky. Rasheed Bailey*. Matt Hazel* Lucky Whitehead*. Chris Hubert* Garrett Johnson*. Kenny Lawler*. Charles Nelson* Daniel Petermann Rashaun Simonise. (Kenbrell Thompkins*)-suspended Corey Washington*. Tim Wilson* (Josh Stewart*)-released RUNNING BACKS Andrew Harris. Brady Oliveira Johnny Augustine. Larry Rose III* QUARTERBACKS Matt Nichols*. Chris Streveler* Bryan Bennett*. Sean McGuire* Sawyer Buettner** Can you feel it?

It’s good to have him back...in so many ways.

Now this is how you word a press release...without the finger pointing and innuendo. Good job Adam!

Hall had a good season last year. Nichols didn't.

Agree with a lot of this... BUT isn't it crazy that we're not talking about Richie Hall AT ALL anymore...?? Pre-Bighill Hall was basically to blame for everything while Nichols and Lapo 'carried' the team ha

Atomic is the only one who has given us anything else to talk about.

Best reporting I've read in awhile......clear and insightful ...good on ya Atomic

Kongbo looks like a beast standing next to other huge players. Looking forward to seeing on the field.

Must.... resist... Joe Mack... thread... derailment...

I'm all:

The off-season workout plans and OTAs really paid off it seems.

Good to see the forum is in mid-season form already! 😂

I used to work in the restaurant industry and there would be the odd regular customer who would come in and complain about everything and tip nothing or close to it. We couldn't ban them because they weren't breaking any rules but all the servers and bartenders hated them. We couldn't ban them but it was also like, man if all you do is complain, why do you keep coming back? I never really understood.

Yeah but Nik on Twitter said he's a stud!! Dudes over hyped. Had a couple solid games and everyone was on his ****. He's a Special teamer on the bombers at most. Go play for regina

Wow. First Republican to go grow a spine and stand up for the country. Good on him. Will be interesting to see the fallout from this. Nice to finally see a GOP member of congress put Country before party.

Most people didn't make excuses last season. I think the majority of people thought his throws were off. I'd say the only thing we may have done is slightly over exaggerate how good Streve was.

Collaros has entered Buck Pierce territory. Was a good player for a while, but all those concussions have taken away his ability to be a high level player. With that guy it's not if, it's when the next little bump is gonna concuss him.

The Riders would have beaten the Bombers with Collaros. Who was trash every time he played the Bombers. Yeah, ok.

This is almost unbelievable... Holy shady as ****... https://3downnation.com/2019/05/19/the-cfl-reneged-on-elements-of-the-new-cba-and-almost-caused-a-strike/

Good line from Les Perreaux: The labour movement will always remember the 12-minute CFL strike of 2019.

You mention it too much. You ***** even when Nichols is playing well.

There are more people involved in these whole negotiations than Ambrosie. Your antiRandy is showing

Yeah u find a solid HB..especially a young one..u keep him there and let him get even better

Sayles played well last year as a rookie at HB, don't see Winnipeg moving him to CB.

Good move by the Cats.

It's amazing the contrast between Farhan Lalji and Arash Madani. Madani tries SO hard to crap on the sport in general at every possible turn, yet enjoys following it quite closely. Amusing.

Yeah but when is the last time you tipped me for my great content???

The fact that the rule makes it so that is a potentially viable strategy at all makes the rule extremely stupid.

Which doesn’t even factor in the tackles he can’t attenpt because of poor reads. We’ve beat Edmonton several times by picking on that guy.

I had that poster! Hung next to the one of Westwood and Cameron hanging out sitting on the yellow metal beams under the bleachers at Winnipeg Stadium.

I can't see this lasting long. All the players have reported. If there is a strike now that would mean teams wouls have the players locked out. They would have nowhere to go. Or the teams would have to pay to send them home just to fly them back again. I expect this will be resolved quickly.

EDM is going to be underwhelmed with Dean.

PRICELESS...what personnel.

If the game is won in the trenches then I love the way they have built this roster.