Riders personnel speak with fans ahead of the season

The applause started at practice for Roughriders head coach Corey Mace and it continued during his entrance at the State of the Nation.

Fans are curious to see what Mace wants to improve with the team during his first year as the boss.

Mace said he wants to make the Riders feel like a hard working Saskatchewan team.

“The goal is that when you watch the team you identify with them,” said Mace. “We’re going to be tough regardless of what the weather looks like, we’re going to be flying around, and we’re going to do things as a family.”

As for Mace himself he is a defensive specialist, he was a defensive tackle during his playing career, and then becoming a defensive line coach.

Mace said that’ he’s been a part of some aggressive defences the last couple of seasons, and plans to bring that to Saskatchewan.

“We’re not going to sit back and die a slow death,” said Mace. “If we’re going to die then it’s going to be because we’re forcing the issue.”

With this being Mace’s first year calling the shots some fans have wondered how he’s going to respond when his team is put into a difficult spot.

Mace said he’ll talk it out with the other coaches but will also look towards his players too.

“We’re going to get scored on, we’re going to be put into tough situations,” said Mace. “Sometimes I want to see how the guys are naturally going to handle that, that’s adversity, that’s football and you got two options, bounce back or bounce backwards.”

Fan’s in Saskatoon thanked the Riders for holding training camp in the Bridge City.

Riders General Manager Jeremy O’Day said there are plenty of reasons why they enjoy doing training camp in Saskatoon.

“One of the reasons we love coming to Saskatoon is that we are all under the same roof,” said O’Day. “The growth that happens in training camp, the bonding and brotherhood that happens in training camp is really critical for the season.”

O’Day says the fan support during training camp is also amazing.

As for how the team that O’Day put together is looking on the field, O’Day said he has been pleasantly surprised to see how the level of play has improved amongst this group of players.

When Riders President and CEO Craig Reynolds got to the stage he pointed out that last year, the Riders had players out in the community somewhere in the province for 280 days of the year.

Recently though the status of the Canadian Football League (CFL) has brought some concerns to fans.

Most recently fans saw the Edmonton Elks opt to become privately owned.

Reynolds said he’s not worried about the state of the CFL.

“I think the league is in outstanding shape,” said Reynolds. “As good of shape since I’ve been involved here and I think it starts with solid ownership across the league.”

The Rough Riders will now prepare to play both preseason games during the same week.

The first game is Monday against Winnipeg and the second one is Saturday in Edmonton.