A True Brotherhood

It was late Monday morning and Weston Dressler – the veteran of 10 years in the Canadian Football League – took a moment to scan the faces in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker room.

He’s been here before, of course, on teams in Saskatchewan that missed the playoffs, and both won and lost Grey Cup games. He’s experienced it in Winnipeg, too, after back-to-back playoff exits following losses in the West Division Semi-Final.

The point here is the 32-year-old North Dakota product has seen some things in a decade of service in this grand ol’ loop, and what he has witnessed in his two years as a Bomber is different.

“I think (President and CEO) Wade (Miller) and (GM) Kyle (Walters) have done a really good job of building a culture here,” began Dressler. “It starts with Coach O’Shea and his staff. The players know what’s expected of us and it’s because of those guys bringing in not only the players they want, but the types of people they want in this locker room.

“But that’s what makes it so difficult to accept the result on Sunday. We know this room won’t be the same and we wanted to get to the ultimate goal together with the guys in this room. That can’t happen now.”

Now, the cynics out there will roll their eyes at the notion this Bombers crew had a special camaraderie – a brotherhood. Yes, it can sound corny and cliché. And yes, let’s be clear that Dressler is a pending free agent with an open desire to return.

But not all teams are built this way or have this kind of bond. The Bombers of the late 1980s, for example, had a pair of boxing gloves in their dressing room for teammates to settle some of their differences. The 1994 B.C. Lions – Grey Cup champs – were said to have their share of squabbles, including their run to the title. In other words, a tight room by no means guarantees Grey Cup rings.

But to have a room that genuinely cares for each other does resonate with the men in the room. It’s why quarterback Matt Nichols vowed to play the ‘salesman’ with management in an effort to keep as many players as possible. He won’t be alone.

“I just like the vibe in here,” said wide receiver Darvin Adams who, like Nichols, does have a contract for next season. “The players, the coaches… it’s fun to come to work. You’re working, but you’re having fun. We had those guys here that made it fun. It’s just being around good people.

“It’s a business at the end of the day. But you definitely push towards keeping the core guys around. We’ve built something here. We are moving in the right direction. Like Kyle said today, the loss on Sunday and what happened last year is only going to make us stronger. We’re going to bounce back.”

Wishing and hoping are different from the reality Walters & Co. face in trying to keep this close-knit team together, however. Change is inevitable in all sports, but particularly now in the CFL where one-year contracts are the norm.

The Bombers have 20-plus free agents heading into this offseason, including big names like Dressler, Moe Leggett, Chris Randle, T.J. Heath, Travis Bond, Stanley Bryant, Clarence Denmark, Ian Wild, Justin Medlock and Jermarcus Hardrick.

Not all of them will be back under the restrictions of the salary management system. That’s just fact.

“But that’s my biggest pitch: keep us together,” said Hardrick. “I know different guys have different financial things going on, but most of the guys who are coming up as free agents want to be back. I know we’ve got to handle the money aspect of things, but 90 percent of the guys want to be here again. I think we need the core group of guys back to take the next step.

“What is special about this room is the purpose that you come to work with here. You want to come to work with these guys. It’s not, ‘Ahh, I got to work with this guy’ or ‘Ahh, I’ve got to listen to this complainer.’ Everyone came in here and was all in. That’s what I’m giving.

“Sometimes you come to work and you’re all in and you see a guy over there halfing it and it can create friction. But when you’ve got nine guys in the (O-line) room and they’re giving it all they’ve got… that’s where I think the bond comes from. It’s the buy in and the blood, sweat and tears that we put on each other.”

The last word to Dressler, who attempted to hammer home how unique the Bombers environment was this year – even for a grizzled vet.

“You just don’t get it often at the professional level,” he said. “It’s hard to have that kind of camaraderie in a locker room with the one-year contracts and so many new faces every year. It’s hard to build that type of bond throughout one season.

“But we have that here right now. So hopefully there are enough guys that remain to keep building off that.”

“It just adds something to winning, on top of just winning, that makes it extra special. And to continue to do that… when this team wins the big one it will be pretty sweet to win it with guys like that.”