Winnipeg Blue Bomber head coach Mike O’Shea said following Tuesday’s tenth day of Blue Bomber training camp that he would begin advising players on Tuesday night and Wednesday about the lineup they will take to Regina for Saturday nights opening pre-season game.
RELATED: Winnipeg Blue Bombers kick off training camp, look to build off 2016 season
O’Shea made it clear that his rookies and newcomers would get every chance to show what they could do in Regina. And O’Shea had this to say about whether or not veterans need ample playing time in the pre-season, “It depends on the guy. I don’t know that a guy like Weston Dressler needs to but I bet he wants to. They all want to play but whether you can afford to have them play or not, I don’t know. I mean there’s an evaluation process that has to go on to. They all want to play but some of them, whether they believe it or not, don’t need to.”
RELATED: Blue Bombers poke fun at Rider Nation with new billboard in Regina
Dressler, Andrew Harris, Jamaal Westerman and Ian Wild are good bets to be left at home along with some other established vets.
Quarterback Matt Nichols has said that he wants to play on Saturday for the simple reason that the Bombers open the regular season in Regina on July 1 and he wants to get a “feel” for the brand new home of the Riders, Mosaic Stadium. You can rest assured that if Nichols goes to Regina, as he almost certainly will, so will the starting offensive line of Hardrick, Chungh, Goossen, Bond and Bryant.
The game kicks off at 8 p.m. Winnipeg time and 680-CJOB’s first Bomber broadcast of the year with Bob Irving and Doug Brown begins at 6 p.m. with the pre-game show.