mbrg

Eric Wilson.

And yes, Oost was definitely part of the Doug Brown deal. That we also got the player Calgary drafted with the pick we gave them for Brown is one of the things Taman will proudly point to during his time at the Bomber helm.

We got Dougie for a third round pick. I don't recall how we got Barnes but I think you are confusing him for Spurgeon Wynn. No there was a first round pick involved in the Brown trade, the Stamps too Oosterhuis who they then PRer and Taman grabbed. Trust me on this one it's 100% accurate. Barnes was absolutely a first round pick as well. TIllman was pissed because he wanted to take Barnes in the expansion draft. Wynn I believe was had for a first round pick as well. If you want to keep arguing with me go ahead but be prepared to be wrong. Wynn was for a conditional pick. I don't know what ridiculous condition it was (still breathing when he shows up for training camp?) but it did become a first round pick. BC took Pottinger second overall with that pick. The records of all this stuff are pretty much lost if you don't have access to the file room at CFL headquarters (I assume that's the men's room at the Denny's by the airport), but we had a third round pick from BC in that same 2006 draft. Was that part of this deal or a separate one, I'm not sure. The player we got with that pick was Dom Picard, and he was a gooder. If he was part of that trade then it was pretty much a wash. If he wasn't, ouch.

Ah, the old 'over-blown reaction' post... in the last years, TO found Collaros, Cal found BLM, BC developed Mike Reilly... these guys do exist. For the record, I think WIlly has a strong arm and brains, accuracy will come. Marve has all three from what I can see. Brohm has strength and Hall has 'accuracy'... alone its not enough. The old "overblown reaction post"? Let's see, you opened with: because for some reason only you have the clarity of vision to think that better quarterbacks are better than worse quarterbacks. Uh, great. Well let's play the one up game - the Bombers should find a QB with brains, accuracy and a strong arm....and mobility. No, wait - they should get a QB with brains, accuracy, a strong arm, mobility....and experience. Nope, nope, they should get a QB with brains, accuracy, a strong arm, mobility, experience....and durability. No, no, that guy would be garbage, they should get a QB with brains, accuracy, a strong arm, mobility, experience, durability, leadership, a strong family background and early upbringing in the missionary field, a dad who was a football coach in high school, beautiful Dinwiddie eyes AND Usain Bolt-like speed. Anything less is not worthy of consideration. (you were arguing against a point that no one was making)

I completely agree. I also think his work ethic is second to none among Winnipeg's sports reporters. He'll often arrive at the same destination as Friesen despite having a nearly opposite approach. You simply have to take the good with the bad and keep an eye open to see which version of him is delivering the story. There is no reason to think anything he says in this story is not up to snuff.

Hall has the weakest arm of the bunch, the really windy days won't be his friend. I hope Brohm makes some kind of push now. Keeping a bunch of really good players will help this team get better. Discarding the crapiest players and keeping the guys who win jobs by default does not help this team get better. If Brohm can finally start forcing the issue OShea will have the good kind of hard choice to make. I've read this statement a lot here, and, as someone not to familar with levels of arm strength as a QB, I would tend to agree based on my observations of his play. For arguments sake, let's say this is true. So, in a passing league like the CFL, where it's standard to throw a forty-yard out with zip, does his other skills make-up for this limitation? Yes he's appears decisive but that becomes tempered on some plays with a weaker arm, no? He seems like a good guy who loves playing the game but I'm not feeling it with him. I hope, as I sometimes am, completley wrong and he plays at the level required to run the offense we employ this year. Weakest arm of the bunch is a relative statement. He gets some grief for that but I'm pretty sure he can put enough zip on the ball to knock a tooth out of my face while I'm standing 15 yards away from him and explaining his lack of arm strength to him. A strong arm allows a QB to force balls into tight coverage before the DB can react. That sounds like a good thing, and it can be, but it can also be a crutch for QBs who aren't good at reading coverage, or a problem for QBs who think they can throw the ball hard enough to beat any coverage. Known as a Bishop. When a QB understands the CFL better he knows which passes are available to him on any given play. Sometimes the out pass will be there for Hall, sometimes it won't. He has to be smart enough to see it. He seems pretty cerebral in his approach. Last year he was a CFL rookie. He had lot of NFL experience but history has shown that doesn't mean much. He picked it all up pretty quick and ended up as our best QB last year (not saying much) despite being a rookie and having a "weak arm". The goal is to win games this year, not accumulate the most project players. Odds are that Hall as our backup gives us a better chance to do that than the other two, at least in the short term. There is plenty of camp left to see what kind of challenge Brohm can put up. Sounds like he mounted one today.

There will be a point where throwing Marve into the fire will benefit him and his understanding of CFL coverages. I doubt he's there after 2 weeks of training camp. He has responded well to the limited challenges he's faced so far. That's a positive but let's not lose perspective.

Hall has the weakest arm of the bunch, the really windy days won't be his friend. I hope Brohm makes some kind of push now. Keeping a bunch of really good players will help this team get better. Discarding the crapiest players and keeping the guys who win jobs by default does not help this team get better. If Brohm can finally start forcing the issue OShea will have the good kind of hard choice to make.

The problem wasn't the trades, the problem was most trades were for import players. Now if you're making up for it by signing NIs in free agency that's a different tack, but the Bombers never had the cash to be free agent players.

Oh, and my favourite was "loss of housekeeping capacity".

Oy vey! This guys sounds entirely like a positive contributing member of society and not a gigantic deer tick-like drain. sarcasm font, sarcasm font...can't seem to find it. Kane is 22 and has mucho $$. Even if he's not doing a single thing wrong he needs to find himself in better situations than this. People are going to take runs at him. Sad, but the way of the world these days. Maybe him and Lucic should open up their own bar in Vancouver.

A little bit surprised, but guys whose names score well in scrabble tend to be more memorable.

Lawless spent a lot of time working his way up the food chain and seems to have a bit of a complex about it - hence the axes he grinds when he feels he's being disrespected, BUT he is also the hardest working sports reporter in Winnipeg. Despite occasionally getting lumped together he is the anti-Friesen (the absolute laziest sports reporter in Winnipeg). He digs and digs, works his leads and connections non-stop. He has no axe to grind in this story; to assume it is baseless is to ignore a person who takes his job very seriously.

He just seemed to get it. Knew where to go with the ball and how to get it there. I hope he gets more time in the next game (though that's probably not too likely as I expect they'll give willy a ton of time) so we can see if he's actually got it or just looked good against another teams training camp fodder. They'll want to give Willy a bunch of time and they'll want to make a decision on Brohm (if they haven't already). Marve's obvious potential might be the second biggest reason he sees very little of the field in Calgary.

Woodson was valuable in that he netted us a NI-OL (who subsequently retired) and a third round pick in this years draft .. yes .. we had to give up our 5th .. but I think that still puts us ahead .. heh. We traded that pick and the 26th pick for Chris Randle. Should the trading of Etienne's rights for Willy's right be included in the list? No, that makes life too complicated, but it is another sign that a) management is not willing to sit on a team that is clearly not good enough, and b ) Walters is trying to make some headway using what could be considered spare parts. The two examples you listed, Poblah for Banks. That's two players who hadn't made much headway here and two mid-draft picks that he turned into 3 starters. None are NI's unfortunately, but at least they aren't wasted.

Okay, what Mike said.

No the problem isn't "mack made a bad pick".... every GM has done that.... the problem is Mack traded up with the initial condition being that his guy would be available (Jabar Westerman) but when BC traded up to 2, we all knew who they were taking... yet Mack completed the trade anyways.... then he selected a guy we could've easily got at 9 or 10 or wherever we were originally scheduled to pick... and the other problem is he made the exact same mistake prior year with Jade.... I have no problem picking a guy you like but why not trade down, gain more picks, and still get the guy you want.... drafting 101, a class Joe Mack apparently flunked! No, that wasn't exactly what happened. Mack did not have an option on that trade to wait and see what happened in front of him. He made the trade, then after BC made their trade. Hamilton was not interested doing a trade with us where we could do takesy-backsies. Lots of things in hindsight that we could have changed about that moment but your timeline is off and the situation was not entirely what you say it was.

If he gets his act together he probably still will land a job in this league (if his shoulders are healthy). Can't make a player do that though. He already had a carrot (CFL career) dangling in front of him, so what's left? Demonstrating that the carrot can be taken away? Well now that's happened. Maybe we'll hear from him again someday. Maybe he's out of the league for good.

Some interesting thoughts in there. When I think of who is the most OShea like player on the team it is probably Greg Peach. Nothing fancy but a lot of hard work and using his smarts to be in position to make plays. And as for bringing it every practise and every game, will Korey Banks' "saving it for the season" approach find him on the outs? I have my doubts but he'd better demonstrate hustle and hunger over the next week. I don't see Marve high on the depth chart to start but he may be the first development guy we've had since McManus who is actually worth developing. Huge upside physically and talent wise. Now if he can pick up the CFL game over the course of a season, he could be a very nice roster piece. In general the last half dozen or so seasons have demonstrated that predicting a final roster based on who the scribes highlight as keepers is a low percentage play. Will wait and see.

Pencer has looked rock solid thus far in his career? I thought this camp and his limited time last season all looked like they were progressions in where he was before.. Not leaps and bounds but not a wasted endeavour yet.. Swiston looks like he'll be on the 9 game IR as soon as the Bombers are allowed to put him on it, so Pencer isn't going anywhere in the short term. Not unless Quinn Everett looks absolutely amazing. Eight NI Olinemen on a CFL roster is pretty much the minimum. Some teams carry ten. He won't put together a 12 year career based on potential though. It's lookin' like he's got another 12 months left. Guess they're not too worried about the numbers.

Do you think he would have gone higher or lower? Considering his value is now measured against next year's draft, maybe it doesn't really matter.

Hall, Muamba and Matthews would all be CFL free agents. Hopefully one or all still have some positive feelings towards this club. Muamba was offered a massive amount of $ before he left so he knows we really want him back. On the other hand, we cut his brother. On the other other hand, no other team has picked him up. I really really hate to ask this question, but how well would Bilukidi fit in an Etchevery defence? In my mind I picture his skills/athleticism as similar to Bryant Turner so it seems like there should be some synergy, but I never got to see much of the Raiders (and if I had the opportunity I would probably pass).

Ditto. Not taking the updates for granted.

I keep waiting for a mod to take "BLOCKBUSTER" out of this thread title. BLOCKBUSTER: When season ticket holders buy a 6" sub and 21 oz drink at subway they can get another 6" for only a dollar!!! My subway owning friend asked me if I knew that. I said I did not. BLOCKBUSTER: Season ticket holders can get 10% off lawn tractors at Enns Bros. If only my mower would break. Wait, what? No, that's a bad thing. Ricky Ray getting traded to Toronto was a blockbuster. This is ... stuff? A thing that happened? I will stick to the plan. Listen to OB until commercials, then switch, then switch, then switch>>>>>>>>>>unless I forget 1290 exists, which is very possible.

The expectation that athletes in their early 20's are supposed to behave like Mother Teresa just because they happen to be athletes is bound to disappoint. More often than not they will behave just like any other 21 year old male. Unless they have more disposable income, then they may behave worse. Nothing on his rap sheet raises my eyebrows. Been there, done that. The 3 knee surgeries might be a concern if I hadn't seen him running at practise. Powerful, smooth strides, quite an effortless runner actually. It's a concern because he's never lasted a full season. The knees are ticking time bombs. He's healthy now, but for how long? Can't tear his ACL. He's practically indestructible now.