(Hamilton) Head coach Jason Maas felt the need to call the Montreal Alouettes players to order at the conclusion of Thursday’s training session at Tim Hortons Field for the Gray Cup.
After a two-hour training session in absolutely glorious weather for November 16 – more than 15 degrees Celsius and bright sunshine – Maas gathered his flock in the center of the field as he does at the end of each session.
Already irritated by what he had just seen, some players were not hurrying enough to join the group for his liking and he let them know with a few strong curses.
Once his players gathered, the head coach gave them a soap, with language that was colorful to say the least, which could not be transcribed without a warning for the youngest readers or those with more sensitive eyes.
Veteran guard Kristian Matte, who will play in the second Canadian Football League final of his career on Sunday, admitted as he left the field that some portions of practice had gone less well, but that there was nothing no need to worry about the level of commitment of his teammates.
Maas later explained that he reminded his players that Sunday’s match will require constant effort for sixty minutes of play and that this must also be the case for the duration of the training sessions.
This is one of the rare moments of the season where the coach raised his voice in public towards his players. Maas highlighted how his team usually works very well, which explains their constant progress since the start of the calendar. He wants to see his team even better than in the Eastern final in the ultimate match.
This meeting against the winners in the West, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will get underway at 6 p.m. on Sunday. This is the fourth consecutive final contested by the Blue Bombers, who won the Gray Cup in 2019 and 2021, but lost the last edition at the hands of the Toronto Argonauts.