Riders playing waiting game as contract negotiations continue

With rookie camp wrapped up, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are turning their attention to training camp … assuming there will be one.

The CFL and the CFL Players’ Association are still meeting in hopes of hammering out a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires before main camps open Sunday.

If the sides can’t come to a new deal by then, there could be a players’ strike.

Asked Friday about that possibility, Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson said he and his staff would be ready for whatever comes their way.

“We can only control what we can control and that is we want to try to coach the guys who are here and if something happens where they are not here, we’ll adjust at that time,” Dickenson said after the final rookie camp workout at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus.

“We’ve got a lot of film to watch (and) we’ve got a lot of meetings to have in the next 12 hours. We’ll have plenty of work and (the media) will know when we know, so to speak, what goes on from here.

“But we’re optimistic it’ll get handled and that hopefully both sides will feel satisfied with whatever comes about.”

The Canadian Press reported Thursday the union sent a memo to its members saying they should report to their team’s facilities but to be in position to take part in a legal strike.

The CFLPA also indicated it would pay for players’ flights or drives home if a strike takes place.

Roughriders quarterback Mason Fine, who took part in rookie camp, said he knows the CFLPA’s leaders will keep the players up to date on what was going on.

Until he heard otherwise, though, he was planning on keeping his nose to the grindstone.

“I’m just going to focus on what I can and that’s hitting the treatment, hitting the playbook again, watching film, maybe talking to a couple of younger guys and making sure they’re on the same page, and helping as many players as I can heading into training camp — because once those vets get here, things kind of speed up a little bit,” Fine said.

“That’s the No. 1 thing I’m going to be (doing) is taking care of my arm (and) my body and making sure I’m mentally sharp going into Day 1 of training camp, whenever that may be.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Steve Seto