Down Time, Draft Picks, Training Camp

A couple pieces of news today. First, I would like to apologize for the down time. There hasn't been an awful lot of news lately, and when that happens, the site tends to go into hibernation. This being my first go-around at this means I'm learning on the fly. Looks like the time after the draft, but before the start of training camp, tends to be quiet... a little too quiet. The lack of news has allowed me to work on a few things, some of which I hope to get posted in the next couple of days.

With that out of the way, let us get to the matters at hand, shall we?

The three players that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats drafted in the 2010 CFL Draft that are eligible to come to camp have all signed. The team announced today that Eddie Steele, Justin Palardy and Samuel Fournier will all be attending rookie camp starting on June 3rd.

Figuring out how rookies will perform is difficult in any sport. It is especially difficult in the CFL. Rarely do rookies come in and play right away, not even the top picks.

That said, I think Steele could be a player. He provides some much needed Canadian depth on the Defensive Line and looks like he could be a stalwart on the line for years to come. Palardy fills the team's obvious need at Punter and is the odds-on favourite to be punting for the Tabbies in 2010. Fournier is a Fullback, which isn't a position that is needed all that much in the CFL, but I would imagine his contributions will come mostly on Special Teams.

All this leads into my third and final point, which is... TRAINING CAMP IS HERE! Yes, I will freely admit to being a little too excited about the start of training camp, if only because that means we are oh-so-close to the start of the season. Rookie camp opens tomorrow, while the veterans report on June 6th. Then it's only one week until the team travels down the QEW to play the Argos on June 13th, followed by the final pre-season game, in Hamilton, against the Blue Bombers on June 20th. Both games start at 1PM, and I will be attending them both. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I need my football fix, and pre-season football will have to do.