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There has probably not been any season like the 2021 that is about to kick off on Thursday night.
So far the season, at least in Saskatchewan and probably the rest of the league to varying extents, is the season of the Torn Achilles. The Riders had the tough luck to have four torn Achilles in 15 minutes at a practice before regular camp began, but other teams have also suffered a spate of Achilles.
All of this points to the problems of trying to maintain a fitness regime for 18 months in the midst of a pandemic. It is difficult to maintain such a program with no real idea of when, never mind if, the CFL was going to be back.
REGINA Building a team identity can takes weeks or months for a football team, but it’s vital to a team’s success. Throw in a 20-month break and no preseason, it’s understandable that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are still finding their groove. It’s too tough to tell right now, Riders’ quarterback Cody Fajardo said. The only way you can find out your true identity is what you do in the first couple of games, it’s not going to be you play one game and that’s your identity. The Riders’ players arrived in Regina about a month ago, they’ve been on the field together for three weeks and now will play their first game that counts in almost two years coming up on Friday.
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REGINA After eight days of Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp, quarterback Cody Fajardo is feeling the most confident he’s ever felt in a pre-season. The CFL’s 2019 West Division Most Outstanding Player believes he’s in for an even better season in 2021. “I think I’m having my best camp I’ve ever had in the CFL,” Fajardo said on Saturday. Fajardo threw 18 touchdowns and 4302 passing yards in 2019 for a 71 per cent completion rate. However, he wasn’t sure how he’d feel after an 18 month hiatus. “I was a little nervous at first. Just the new offense and being out for a year and a half. The one thing I was really nervous about was getting guys around me in the pocket and trying to see windows,” Fajardo said. “I think I’m completing the ball at a really high numbers and made a lot of good throws.”