By Greg Urbanoski

Riderville

Exhibition Growing Pains

May 30, 2025 | 12:38 PM

The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the writer’s and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Pattison Media.

One of the more interesting battles this season will be the psychological war being fought between the Stony Mountain Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Bombers have dominated the west for the last five years, although they have blown the last three Grey Cups, but they remain the main obstacle between the Riders and getting to the Grey Cup game. For the Bombers and their fans, this has been a new golden age where they can lord it over their rivals and troll them to their heart’s content.

So, for the Riders, whose nightmares at the hands of the Bombers began with Cody Fajardo hitting the crossbar in the dying seconds of the western final, for them to move past Winnipeg is not just a physical battle, but an emotional and psychological battle as well.

The Bombers are quick to accuse the Riders of being a dirty team, anything to give them an advantage when it comes to the officials. Bomber fans need no encouragement to troll Rider fans and they are holding the trump card in that the Riders have not beaten the Bombers in a playoff game for a while.

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When Craig Dickenson was coaching the Riders, his last two years were marked by the Riders disappearing following the Labor Day Rematch and sliding out of the playoffs. The Riders would be manhandled by the Bombers as if the Bombers were prison guards doing body cavity searches in Stony Mountain.

For the Riders to do better, which means finally beating the Bombers, the Riders are going to have to operate on several levels to avoid being baited by the Bombers and allowing them to get into the Riders heads. The Riders have to demonstrate they have the emotional discipline to not get sucked into retaliatory penalties against the Bombers and somehow try to put the idea into the Bombers heads their run is about to end.

This year the Riders play the Bombers five times, including back-to-back exhibition games. The Bombers indicated they would be playing their starters at home, which makes sense because nothing Winnipeg loves more than stomping the Riders at home.

The Bombers had pertinent football reasons for playing their starters more. Quarterback Zach Collaros was suspended by the CFL for a game for not responding to an off-season performance enhancing drug test.

So Collaros would need extra work because he won’t be playing in Winnipeg’s first game of the regular season. The Bombers have lost a fair number of players to free agency and would likely focus on those replacements and making sure they were integrated into the system.

The Riders, following two season ending injuries on their offensive line, brought in the back ups to see who was up for the challenge and who will not survive the cuts on Saturday. The Riders also brought along running backs to see who can provide a contrast to AJ Ouellette.

The game was on CFL + a streaming service that apparently used the camera system in the different stadiums to provide pictures while the home radio broadcast crew provided the insight. The Bombers in house video show was so awful it made the Riders season ticket soiree held just before the game look like the model of organization. One hopes the Riders do not repeat the same experience.

The Bombers won 15-9 in a field goal battle, although some penalties took away some great Rider chances to score touchdowns. Harris started at quarterback and did OK, and then passed the baton to Jake Maier who threw an interception, apparently something he was notorious for in Calgary last season, but otherwise did well to move the club.

So, unlike last season when Rider fans sacrificed a number of goats to the spirit world after Trevor Harris went down with an injury, this year the Riders look like they will be competitive at quarterback.

Three things sort of stood out Saturday with the poor physical condition of the rookies being really telling. The Riders brought in a lot of young and relatively inexperienced in the Canadian game players and whether it is the one less down, the bigger field, the Rider defense was gassed in the last quarter and a half of the game.

One hopes it is just inexperience with the size of the Canadian field, but if the defense does not offer a stouter rebuttal of the Bombers in the rematch Friday night, then the Riders have some major thinking to do.

The second thing and this is sort of interchangeable is the punting and the kicking, other than Lauther, was awful. Brady Flint seemed to be the punter to step into Adam Lorshak’s shoes but his average did not spell success.

The Riders brought in a kicker from U Sports to push Brent Lautner, but the kicking was not anything Lautner or his cat would have to worry about. The Riders brought back Australian Joe Couch following the game and at the Monday practice he was booming punts and making Flint look bad by comparison.

One suspects the Riders will be putting in their tentative starting offensive line to give the Riders a better sense of how their offensive line will do against a competent defensive line. If the line gives the quarterbacks more time to find targets, you should be expecting a lot of deep downfield passes and perhaps more running plays.

The Riders are really looking for a spot for linebacker Antoine Brooks whose physical talents and football sense have him a star in the making. Whether Brooks sees the field as a starter will likely depend on how the Riders can use their Canadian content and whether it is deep enough to handle injuries.

If the Riders can open another spot for a Canadian and a back-up, the odds of Brooks starting go up appreciably. Jaxon Ford, the safety, and grandson of former Rider great Al Ford, made his presence felt on the field and may be ready to step into a starting position.

The Riders may be looking at three Americans starting on the offensive line but a lot likely depends on how their American offensive line hopefuls fare on Friday night against the Bombers.

The Riders receiving corps looks solid and with Shawn Bane Jr. still wearing a knee brace, although he was moving around pretty good on Monday, it seems inevitable Bane will be put on the six-game injury list to help him finish his rehab on his knee.

If Bane can come back health by Labor Day he could be an ideal new weapon that prevents other teams from focusing too much on one or two receivers. It is not likely the Riders will unveil too many new things in this game, and while a win would be nice, for the Riders a game featuring no stupid penalties and executing a game plan with no distractions would be a major plus.

This camp of the Riders did feature a brouhaha between offensive and defensive linemen and while Rider Head Coach Cory Mace likes the intensity, he does not like the penalties and in the end, discipline is what going to be needed to beat the Bombers.

On offense, it appears the Riders are prepared to go with whoever is open getting the ball. The running game should be improved and it will be interesting to see the impact Jemarcus Hardrick has the offensive line and its ability to move the ball.

The Riders will be looking to see if someone will step up at the defensive end position opposite Malik Carney. The interior of the Riders line seems stout enough, although injuries can creep in and force changes.

The Riders showed signs they can listen and be a disciplined team. The tackling for the most part seemed competent, and the Rider defense showed it was willing to let teams move the ball but then when they hit the red zone, they stiffened and left the Bombers nothing but field goals.

The Riders should win on Friday night as the Riders and Bombers focus their attention on the remaining loose threads on their respective rosters. It probably won’t be a big win as both teams will be cycling through players trying to see how they will do in a new position.

On the psychological end, the game means nothing except as a tool to evaluate players. With the final cutdown coming on Saturday, the Riders need to evaluate those players contending for spots and those who might gain some valuable experience on the practice roster before hitting the big field.

At the very least the games give the Riders a chance to see how they compare to the Bombers and what they have to work on. Everyone knows the true test comes in November, but how the Riders respond to the Bombers now may indicate a changing of the guard in the western division in 2025.