CFL expansion to Halifax? -- TSN Staff

[Rammer]

There's a big difference between quality and quantity......are there NI players available? absolutely......are there enough QUALITY NI players to fill all the mandatory starting positions? how about all the backup positions?.......IMHO, the answer to those 2 questions is a resounding NO.....and you only have to look at the Lions offensive line in 2013 for proof.

I think the grassroots football systems in Canada have greatly improved in the past couple of decades and are producing more quality and quantity than ever before. I think they are more capable of provding sufficient quantity and quality of NI to support 10 teams today in 2014 than they were capable of providing to support 8 teams back at the turn of the millenium.

I tend to support that theory on today's talent being more plentiful than years past. That said, just like import talent, there is top end talent, mid row talent and poor talent, but the NI talent kept is always poorer than any I talent. The depth of 22 NI's isn't counted on for starting, just the top 10 generally. Noway that prior to 2000 that you find a Kabongo type after TC started, like the Lions did. But it normally takes around a 2 year period to get the NI up to CFL speed and then a portion of the season to get comfortable.

[David]

There is more top-end CIS talent than ever before. Far more. That said, this talent pool has not gone unnoticed by the competitive NFL scouting system (Duvernay-Tardif among others), so what we're likely to continue to see is this top-end talent exhaust all opportunities south of the border before they consider the CFL.

Do we have enough CFL-ready players for a 9th CFL team? I guess we're about to find out. A 10th team? Not in the next 5 years IMHO.


DH

[OV - 54:40]

Import players certainly get more opportunity to play in the CFL than Nis - in general, and certainly at specific positions. Football teams need back-ups and those roles go to mostly NIs in the CFL; and if some want to believe or assume that the "NI talent kept is always poorer than any I talent" that's just swell and knock yourself out with your opinion that your're entitled to.

You could also believe that Kabongo is all Wally could come up with to play O-Line; BUT - he could have given Steve Myddelton (Ticats valued him enough to sign him as a FA recently) a shot; OR signed Kyle Koch (fomer Esks starter at both guard and C - Argos signed him mid last season); OR drafted Brent Jones ( heard of him? - guy who won CFL ROY last dseason as an O-Line starter - guess he didn't need 2 years to get up to "CFL speed"?); and seemed to me that Wally cast-off Justin Sorenson was starting on the Bombers O-Line last year and got signed as a FA this off-season; OR - that 2011 Wally draft pick Yannick Sage (huge CIS all-star O-Lineman) could have been brought in to compete in TC again; OR Wally coulda drafted Paul Swiston or Pascal Baillageron (still on CFL rosters) over Michael Carter that same draft OR that Wally could have drafted Matt O'Donnell (made an NFL PR, started for the Esks last season) for the O-Line instead of taking Hugh O'Neill ?


But yep - there is so little NI talent out there.