Except when you do it properly, what you have is flexibility in your ratio so if Henoc gets hurt, you don't necessarily need a backup NI MLB, you just slot another NI in somewhere else and play an American at MLB.

 

For example, if Andrew Harris gets hurt in BC, they don't replace him with a NI RB, they simply adjust their ratio and dress another NI somewhere else. Same with Cornish in Calgary, Matt Walter is the game day backup but I doubt he'd be the weekly starter if Cornish got hurt. Same thing applies with Ted Laurent in Edmonton. Andre Durie in Toronto. etc etc

 

Agreed, except that the drop off in talent when 'you just slot another NI in somewhere else and play an American at MLB' can pretty steep. Not so much when you go from NI OG to NI OG, if you've been drafting and developing NI OGs.   

 

 

I don't necessarily agree.

 

The drop off is usually going to be steep in any situation. If you're capable enough to start as a Canadian in this league, you rarely sit on the bench.

 

 

When OL like Labatte, Perrett, Tsoumpas, et. al. are not in the line-up...I would be willing to bet it shrinks the offensive playbook.  

It comes down to money, starting quality NI linemen are the highest paid NI's in the league, we tried to go the least expensive route and it hasn't worked out so good.

Nonsense. Have you listened to what Doug Brown has said about the Muamba situation? He said he never made it to free agency because the Bombers always gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. All the talk surrounding Labatte was that the Bombers were offering him enough to make him one of the highest paid guards in the league. Cory Watson was always extended well before his deal was up and I doubt that he was re-upping early for peanuts. People like to say Mack was cheap, but he was really only cheap with import player, he paid his non-imports and he paid them well because he knew they were valuable. 

So you named 3, good for you that still leaves us well short of paying 7 starters top dollar.

Our starting 7 Canadians as a group suck. This is Mack's team. Our Canadian talent is brutal.  

So you named 3, good for you that still leaves us well short of paying 7 starters top dollar.

do we have more than 3 guys worth paying top dollar to?

Our starting 7 Canadians as a group suck. This is Mack's team. Our Canadian talent is brutal.  

Our Canadian talent was brutal before Mack got here and he didn't inherit a lot of draft picks. When you look at what he's done Macks drafting was fine, he did more to rebuild the NI talent on this team than had been done in years. Don't try your typical blowing things out of proportion to take another whack at Mack. 

I don't know if you pay top dollar for your 7 NI starters, at least not initially.

I wonder if there is any team who pays their top 7 starters top 7 starting money.

You pay your quality players, quality money, as evidenced when FA comes up. We have tried to extend our better players every year and in LaBatte's case...league top dollars.

Hell there's plenty of stuff to suggest they've offered Muamba top dollar already too. This team has always been willing to pay it's top NIs top NI money. 

And there's plenty to suggest otherwise, Don O a local boy for example, who are just as important to retain, couldn't even get a decent sniff. There's no reason given our current state that he shouldn't be starting on the dline tonight in rotation with Thomas. To suggest that our NI talent hasn't been mismanaged in the Mack era is ridiculous.

You are in error when you claim Donny O was as important to retain. 

We have 2 NI starters on our lines, he would easily be our third, without a doubt.

If they'd wanted Donny O as a starter they would have paid him, that's why he left, they didn't view him as a starter and he wanted starters money so they got Jake Thomas as a backup/rotational NI d-lineman. Just because fans liked him doesn't mean Donny O was a starter level guy. If he wasn't local no one would be talking about him. 

Donny O is garbage why even bring him up,  is he even getting any play time this year in Edmonton?

 

Our starting 7 Canadians as a group suck. This is Mack's team. Our Canadian talent is brutal.  

Our Canadian talent was brutal before Mack got here and he didn't inherit a lot of draft picks. When you look at what he's done Macks drafting was fine, he did more to rebuild the NI talent on this team than had been done in years. Don't try your typical blowing things out of proportion to take another whack at Mack. 

 

Oh yeah, forgot. Not Mack's fault. All Burke's.

Are you suggesting that Brock Ralph , Aaron Hargreaves and Donny O would put this team over the hump?  

Aww, poor Mack...   pretty funny to be arguing about Mack's brilliance at rebuilding our Cdn content when we just started 3 import OL and Pierre Luc Labbe.

 

 

Our starting 7 Canadians as a group suck. This is Mack's team. Our Canadian talent is brutal.  

Our Canadian talent was brutal before Mack got here and he didn't inherit a lot of draft picks. When you look at what he's done Macks drafting was fine, he did more to rebuild the NI talent on this team than had been done in years. Don't try your typical blowing things out of proportion to take another whack at Mack. 

 

Oh yeah, forgot. Not Mack's fault. All Burke's.

 

actually no, Mike Kellys fault. you know it takes time for NIs to develop right? Can't judge drafts until like 3 years after the fact right? 

Lots of people are at fault....

NI's sitting on practice rosters around the league, there are currently 4 DL and 9 OL, poaching other teams practice roster players used to be a Taman specialty. We are to the point where it needs to be done again, poach 1 DL and 1 OL and get the ratio in order.

Lots of people are at fault....

this is why I don't really care for all the Tim Burke hate...sure, he's gonna eat some, but there's a LOT of people to blame here.

Currently though, you have to blame whoever is in charge of the import ratio, trying to start 5 NI's at skill positions is beyond nuts.

I'm not disagreeing with the ratio, but what I'm saying is that none of us actually knows who's making the decisions on that stuff. I mean, we ASSUME Burke does because he SHOULD be, but we really don't know anything. I think there's a lot of people making decisions and a lot of bad ones are being made.

Agreed, not having a HC who is clearly in charge, if that is the case, is a hopeless situation. Somebody though needs to put the ship on the right course whether it be Walters or Willer, somebody somewhere along the chain of command has to be responsible.

I'm not disagreeing with the ratio, but what I'm saying is that none of us actually knows who's making the decisions on that stuff. I mean, we ASSUME Burke does because he SHOULD be, but we really don't know anything. I think there's a lot of people making decisions and a lot of bad ones are being made.

 

If Burke ISN'T making these decisions then he should be fired for not doing his job. The only guy who could potentially be dictating to Burke is Miller, and if that is happening we are well and truly ******.