BigBlue Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 What is the strength and weaknesses of our Canadian starters? What kind of two year plan do we put in place to improve the talent level of our Canadians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 There is some good young Canadian talent here. Derek Jones, Jesse Briggs, Jake Thomas, Matthias Goossen, Lirim Hajrullahu, JFG, Rory Kohlert, Teague Sherman. All good players with plenty of time left to grow. Our Canadian "stars" leave a lot to be desired. I loved the Picard pickup and IMO he instantly entered our top 3 Canadians when we picked him up. Beyond that, we have to look at Morley, Greaves, Bucknor and Watson as the team's Canadian "star power." Not ideal. I still have hopes that Watson has a great year in him... but I know many believe that ship has sailed. At the very least, he is a good special teams player and blocker with an oversized contract, at best I believe he could still be an 800-yard guy under the right circumstances. I'd say we are still near the bottom, probably bottom 3 in the league along with BC and Ottawa. But the youth on the team and Walters' aggressive attitude towards acquiring good Canadians gives me hope for the future. With a successful draft and free agency period, I could definitely see us moving more towards the middle of the league, and perhaps the top end by 2016. I guess to sum it up, there is still a whole lot of work to do but I believe Walters is the right guy to fix it and within a couple years, I believe we'll be right in the mix in the conversation about top Canadian talent. blitzmore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17to85 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 We don't have anyone that can be considered in the upper teir of Canadian players, that alone makes it below average. iso_55 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 We don't have anyone that can be considered in the upper teir of Canadian players, that alone makes it below average. That depends how you define upper tier. Picard is a top 3 centre in the league, Kohlert had the third most yards in the league for any Canadian receiver, and Bucknor was probably the best Canadian corner in the league last season. If you defining tiers by position, we certainly do have a few of those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 I would say average at best. That means with a healthy roster. The strength of our Canadian depth is hard to pinpoint because not one area stands out from the rest by any stretch. We have a couple of above-average players that have good games from time-to-time, but hardly anything that remains constant. We need to build through the draft and find some pickups like Picard (someone maybe who has plateaued) along the way that can still contribute. I like our scouting, and the angle that Walters takes at the draft, so I feel confident enough that using this system we can get regular above-average performance and depth from our Canadians in 2-3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17to85 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 We don't have anyone that can be considered in the upper teir of Canadian players, that alone makes it below average. That depends how you define upper tier. Picard is a top 3 centre in the league, Kohlert had the third most yards in the league for any Canadian receiver, and Bucknor was probably the best Canadian corner in the league last season. If you defining tiers by position, we certainly do have a few of those guys. Nope none of those players qualifies in my mind. We don't have anyone who is a canadian but also among the best in the league. Years ago we had Brown and Labatte who were top players regardless of nationality, there's no one on the roster that qualifies for that now. Picard is too old and not the same player he once was to qualify anymore either. Watson would be close if he could stay healthy but he sadly can't. There's a lot of solid canadians and some interesting depth but lacking those couple real high end guys holds the team back. James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripper Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 The Canadian I would like to steal from the Bombers is Rory Kohlert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueandgold Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Aside from Kohlert do we have a single Canadian who could start on a team like the Stamps? I don't think so and that puts us at below average at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* Cory Watson probably starts on most teams in the CFL *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* M.O.A.B., 17to85 and SPuDS 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripper Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Aside from Kohlert do we have a single Canadian who could start on a team like the Stamps? I don't think so and that puts us at below average at best. I like Picard, him leaving was money related IMO. He is a legit NI starter. I like Neufeld, strong as a bull, he is a legit starter when healthy and I really hope Paddy can do it this year. I'm sure you will like him once he strings some starts together. I like Goosen, some time with Picard is going to help him tremendously. By the time Picard leaves Goosen will be ready to step in. I like Bucknor, bad part is he plays apposition not traditionally played by a Canadian and that make ratio issues awkward. Bucknor is a hitter and a canuck, you just got to find room for him somewhere where he can contribute. Like Watson also even though he so inconsistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickem Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 The Canadian I would like to steal from the Bombers is Rory Kohlert. Unlike Labatte, Rorys girlfriend is from the Peg.....good luck on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goalie Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Went with a little below average. The reasoning for that being.. I like our depth players, i guess you can call them "non starters"... I'm talking guys like Briggs,Jones,Newman (was injured tho all last year, huge loss IMO), Sherman (good depth player), Thomas (good depth player). Guys like that. There are others too, JFG i suppose is one but we seem to be lacking the high end starting talent, Picard IMO is probably our best Canadian Starter as of today, I like Greaves but i don't think his job is guaranteed, I like Goossen but he's probably a year or 2 away from being Center, might be a guard option tho, I really like Kohlert, very good very consistent player, Watson when health, when healthy, when HEALTHY does probably start on every team in the league but only WHEN HEALTHY.. Neufeld looked good last season but injury issues are a concern. Lirim is Money. Bucknor was quite the surprise actually. Upgrade the starters tho and we'd be maybe average or a bit above average. Add a guy like Heenan and some depth like Hurl or a guy like that and who knows, See what free agency brings. The draft should yield us some talent too so perhaps this time next year, we are average or a little above average. I like the path we are on tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floyd Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 C+ maybe B if Derek jones and Sherman continue to impress... B+ if Newman kohlert and Thomas take next step... A if we sign Holmes or heenan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueandgold Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* Cory Watson probably starts on most teams in the CFL *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* I would normally agree with you but it seems that Watson's body is deteriorating to the point where he's hardly a difference maker even when he's in the lineup(still a solid player though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.O.A.B. Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* Cory Watson probably starts on most teams in the CFL *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* TRADE HIM! Seriously if we can get the Evan Gill rights from the Ticats for him. I will do that. Tracker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoochylde Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* Cory Watson probably starts on most teams in the CFL *WHEN HE'S IN THE LINEUP* TRADE HIM! Seriously if we can get the Evan Gill rights from the Ticats for him. I will do that. Pruneau for Watson? Seriously though .. I'm a huge fan of Cory Watson .. love this play style .. it's just a shame that injuries are starting to become more and more prevelant .. but that's the thing with soft tissue injuries .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 We don't have anyone that can be considered in the upper teir of Canadian players, that alone makes it below average. That depends how you define upper tier. Picard is a top 3 centre in the league, Kohlert had the third most yards in the league for any Canadian receiver, and Bucknor was probably the best Canadian corner in the league last season. If you defining tiers by position, we certainly do have a few of those guys. Nope none of those players qualifies in my mind. We don't have anyone who is a canadian but also among the best in the league. Years ago we had Brown and Labatte who were top players regardless of nationality, there's no one on the roster that qualifies for that now. Picard is too old and not the same player he once was to qualify anymore either. Watson would be close if he could stay healthy but he sadly can't. There's a lot of solid canadians and some interesting depth but lacking those couple real high end guys holds the team back. Then by that definition, most teams don't have many upper-tier Canadians... probably 1-4 per team, and we have zero. I can agree with that, for the most part, although I would still put Picard in the mix and potentially Kohlert. Upper Tier Canadians BC - Harris. EDM - Rottier, maybe Coehoorn or Steele. CGY - Jones, Cornish, Federkeil, Mace. SSK - Getzlaf, Bagg, Labatte, Heenan, Foley. WPG - None, maybe Picard or Kohlert. TOR - Keeping, Durie. Holmes, Van Zeyl, Emry. HAM - Laurent, Bulcke, Fantuz. MTL - Perrett, Bourke, Brodeur-Jourdain. OTT - None. Accurate? Does the so-called "upper tier" of Canadians contain anyone I missed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Dee Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) Winnipeg has the least amount of Canadians at this time with 27. We have 4 pending FAs in that group. Edmonton has the most Canadians with 36 and they have 6 pending FAs. BC has 28 NIs 2 pending FAs. Sask. - 30 6 FAs Calgary - 33 2 FAs pending Hamilton 28 - 3 FAs Toronto 28 - 5 FAs Ottawa 28 - 3 FAs Montreal 33 - 3 FAs Although our number is on the low side, I believe the quality of NIs is slowly being built up as we are taking out player B and replacing him with a B1 kind of thing. The addition of players like Neufeld, Goosen, Picard, Kohlert, Gudino, Briggs, Newman, Jones, Sherman, Hajrullahu and Everett, have elevated the standard of players we have had, even if it only brings us back to 'average.' I see this trend in upgrading continuing with the Canadian content in management, led by Walters, that we have now. The 4 players we have not signed yet, Carter, Hinse, Volny and Cornell, along with Richardson and Pall may lose their positions depending on Free Agency and the upcoming draft. We're on the right path now and it's been a long time since we could say that. Edited January 15, 2015 by Mr Dee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Many of our Canuck players are still growing into their roles- like Bucknor, who played well and can only get better. We really missed the boat with Pencer who ought to have been a top-ranked O-lineman but bombed out even after being given all kinds of chances, At this point, I would say we are average, and I would bet that at this time next year we will be in the top two or three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPuDS Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Revisit this poll after training camp and see if our opinions change... Especially if mulumba or bilukidi come on doooooown! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbill2004 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Revisit this poll after training camp and see if our opinions change... Especially if mulumba or bilukidi come on doooooown! I was optimistic but doesn't sound like either will be in Bomber TC this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbrg Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 There's only 9 teams in the league and I wouldn't put us in the top 5, so by the definition of the word average we are below average. It will take a long, long time to fix it. A lot of things will have to go right. Calgary has the best by far, and it's taken them years of savvy moves to do it. Accumulating talent to trade for picks, using those picks to move up the board, landing the odd free agent here and there. Now they have backups that are more talented than our starters at some positions. But Hamilton made many similar moves for a decade and constantly had them amount to nothing until recently. We need a little luck on our side. The distance between us and the top teams is what it is. Are we lessening it or letting it grow? As long as we take more steps forwards than backwards, we're headed in the right direction. 17to85 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iso_55 Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 There's only 9 teams in the league and I wouldn't put us in the top 5, so by the definition of the word average we are below average. It will take a long, long time to fix it. A lot of things will have to go right. Calgary has the best by far, and it's taken them years of savvy moves to do it. Accumulating talent to trade for picks, using those picks to move up the board, landing the odd free agent here and there. Now they have backups that are more talented than our starters at some positions. But Hamilton made many similar moves for a decade and constantly had them amount to nothing until recently. We need a little luck on our side. The distance between us and the top teams is what it is. Are we lessening it or letting it grow? As long as we take more steps forwards than backwards, we're headed in the right direction. The only difference between Calgary & say us... is the way the Stampeders draft players. Their record since Huff arrived in 2008 & before that with Jim Barker back to 2005 has been exceptional. It seems they find one or two starters every year out of the CIS & NCAA. Or... they have the assets to trade away a starter for a top draft pick. Pretty obvious they put a lot of time, effort & resources into the CFL Draft & every year they just keep adding to the treasure trove they have now. I think the Bombers International players are as good as a lot of other CFL teams, it's the Canadian content that is wanting. If we have two or 3 good drafts we'll start making strides. Mr Dee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 No respect for our beloved kicker.. I'd say he's a top Canadian johnzo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noeller Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Man, I never even thought about Arugala...yeah, he might be our best NI... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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