REYNOLDS “FRUSTRATED”, BUT “STARTING TO SEE THE BENEFITS”

Reynolds on CKRM at training camp

Saskatchewan Roughriders President Craig Reynolds was in Saskatoon on Monday to speak at the Hilltops annual Quarterback Luncheon.

Besides his address, Reynolds announced the Riders are donating 4,900 seats and six boxes to SMF Field, home of the Hilltops.

Richardson’s also donated $250,000 to the football club at the event.

Here are some quotes Reynolds gave Darren Zary of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:

– “There’s tons of optimism throughout the province and I think a lot of it is around the new (Mosaic) stadium — that’s just a fantastic facility; it truly is world-class — and the way the team is coming together. You can see the nucleus and the core.”

– “You start to project that a year out, with another off-season and another Canadian Draft, and give these guys a little more time to jell, and you can sort of see some really good things on the horizon for the team, for sure.

– “It’s always disappointing when you’re out of the playoffs at this stage but, at the end of the day, in our league and any other league, there’s only one team truly happy at the end of the season.  It won’t be us, but we had a long-term vision and a plan. You start to see that plan sort of playing itself out as we get towards the end of the season.”

– “Obviously, internally, we were frustrated. Nobody wants to lose games and lose a number of games in a row, but we had a long-term plan and we had a long-term vision, and we knew there’d be some growing pains, right? We turned over a lot of our roster and, unfortunately, we got hit with some injuries. Every team deals with injuries, but we got hit in some key areas (offensive line) and in some key Canadian spots. That impacts you.

– “Clearly we were frustrated and our fans were frustrated, but, when you’re in that situation, you’ve got to stick to your plan and your vision, and that’s what we did. We’re starting to see the benefits of that.”

RP
@rodpedersen