REGINA - Grey Cup week in Regina started to get into high gear Wednesday as the head coaches met the media.
The annual Grey Cup joint Head Coaches news conference took place, with Winnipeg Blue Bombers Head Coach Mike O’Shea and Toronto Argonauts Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie.
Notable about the two head coaches was the fact that each spent a considerable amount of time with the other organization. O’Shea had been a longtime linebacker and a former head coach with the Argonauts, while Dinwiddie was a quarterback with the Bombers from 2006-08 including as a starter in the 2007 Grey Cup against the winning Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“I was excited for the moment. You want to play in big games,” Dinwiddie said of that experience. But he said he doesn’t address the team with those stories.
“That was a long time ago,” said Dinwiddie. “It always gets brought up, you know, in the media still which is unique in itself. But I just worry about being the best head coach I can be for the Toronto Argonauts.”
Here are other highlights from the news conference:
O’Shea’s contract status
Bombers coach O’Shea fielded multiple questions about his contract status with the Bombers beyond this year. His contract is due to run out at the end of the season.
When asked if there was any doubt about his contract, he said “when you look at my history I always play out my contracts, figure it out at the end of the year.”
When asked why he feels comfortable doing that, O’Shea chalked it up to “just believe in myself and the team around you. It’s not hard to do.”
When asked later about it, O’Shea said “I don’t waste a lot of time during the season worrying about after the season… that’s when you fix that or figure it out after.” He later reiterated he was committed to the Bombers.
Status of Collaros
Questions have swirled about the health status of Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros for the game Sunday following his injury in the division final with the BC Lions.
But the Argos coach made it known he is expecting to face Collaros in any event.
“Knowing how competitive Zach is, how tough he is mentally and physically… he’s going to play, there’s no question about it,” said Coach Dinwiddie.
On Collaros, O’Shea said “He’s the best quarterback in the league, he’s a tremendous leader, a tremendous competitor.” He also disagreed with the statement that it took a lot of time for him to get traction in the league.
“I was around Toronto when he was a rookie. Very early on, you understood his leadership capabilities, his magnetism. Players were drawn to him even though he was serving in a back up role. He got thrust into a starting role and won a bunch of games very early on in his career and went to Hamilton and was very successful. There might be a lull in his career like a lot of professional athletes maybe faced, depending on the situation they’re in. Now he’s in a situation where he’s got a very good supporting cast. That’s the Zach that people around him have always known. I guess the story writes that it’s a resurgence, but he’ll never not be that leader, and never not be that competitor.”
On Andrew Harris
There were questions about former Blue Bomber Andrew Harris and the storyline about whether he would have a chip on his shoulder now that he was with the Argos.
TSN’s Farhan Lalji pointed out that Harris “made no bones about the fact it was personal” following the Argos win Sunday. O’Shea was asked about the Bombers’ decision to part ways with him.
“On a personal level it’s always difficult,” said O’Shea.
“This is pro football, and decisions are made and transitions happen. The team is different every single year. It doesn’t mean as a head coach you stop caring about the person you’ve been around for a long time. Andrew was a great leader on our team, besides being a great player, the best of all time in history of CFL.”
On the distractions of Grey Cup week
Both O’Shea and Dinwiddie were confident their clubs would keep their focus through the distractions of Grey Cup week.
“The answer’s pretty easy in the off the field stuff,” said O’Shea. “It’s managing your time, making sure you get back to the process, making sure you carve out enough time to step back from the busyness of this week and get back into football and get your focus group. With the group of guys I think it’ll be done fairly well.”
“We’re not here to go out. Next week, your season’s over with,” said Dinwiddie. “You know, you’re lucky to be playing in the last game; this is our last game. Win or lose, it’s your last game, which is tough to think about that sometimes. So I just think our guys will focus on that last week together, let’s stick together and do our best this week to make sure we put ourselves in a position to win our football game on Sunday.”
On who the crowd will be rooting for on Sunday
There were questions about who would benefit from the crowd noise on Sunday at Mosaic stadium. Many expect a pro-Bombers crowd at the Grey Cup with Winnipeg fans expected to make the short trip to Regina.
O’Shea said he is hopeful for a big Bombers crowd. “They are very passionate and they’re loud wherever they arrive,” he said.
The Argos, meanwhile, are hoping to get support from the local Saskatchewan fans against the hated Blue Bombers.
“I’m hoping all the local fans around here aren’t selling their tickets to everybody in Winnipeg,” said Dinwiddie.
But Dinwiddie added that as a football club “you never know what you are going to see” and said they would prepare for crowd noise and “do what we need to do, but we don’t get caught up too much in that.”
No sex, please
There was a bit of chatter amongst the media in the room as to whether anyone would dare continue the tradition of Edmonton reporter Terry Jones to ask the coaches of what is their position on sex before the game.
But Jones is not at the Grey Cup this year, a victim of Postmedia cuts. In the end, none of the other reporters posed the question, perhaps coming to the conclusion this was one Grey Cup tradition that should come to an end.
Other Wednesday activities
For the rest of Wednesday, the focus for the teams was on the open practices. The Argos were scheduled to practice Wednesday morning at Mosaic Stadium, while the Blue Bombers were scheduled to practice at Leibel Field in the afternoon.
For fans, the events of the Grey Cup Festival were set to kick off in the evening at Viterra International Trade Centre in Regina with the SiriusXM Festival Kickoff Party with a performance by Colin James.
That free concert is set to happen at 7 p.m. with James taking the stage around 8 p.m. Wednesday.
