Official Game Day Thread - Hamilton @Winnipeg, June 11, 2026

[Tecno]

Glad to hear CFL/TSN playing up how well WFC runs its business, and how good us fans are.  2Q14:49 they are talking about the post-game on-field stuff, which I always say the league should mandate every team do.  And they need to advertise it heavily.  It's not like a NHL team will ever let the crowd on the ice after a game!  Play it up.

I think the panel mentioned it too.  I think there's been a memo sent out to highlight our success.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Nield not good enough?  Watching the other top NATs & up&comers in the other week 1-3 games... I think we may have a middling guy at best.  Heck, maybe not even Woli level.

That dropsie in the EZ by Nield would have been caught by the best NATs in the league, and easily by most non-last-read IMPs.  What a beaut spiral by Zach, and in the perfect place (though he could have recognized coverage was a step slow and could have thrown a little less deep).

The margins are so thin this season you have to make those TDs.  There is no excuse.  Just have to make them.

Nield was a nobody I barely noticed in his previous seasons until that 2025 WDF catch.  He literally was not on my radar.  Never a good fantasy pick.  Not particularly great hands.  No diving "Dressler" ability.  No Kenny ladder circus.  Just a bigger body guy who seems at Woli level and has the right passport.

Then we signed him at pretty big money, for a non-star NAT who has basically done only one thing of note in his career so far.  Mistake?  And, as such, asking too much of him on that all-Nield first drive?

The pass immediately after, we throw a quick dig to tiny Cobb, who whiffs because the DB was on his back and just reached around his tiny body.  THAT is the play that Nield is made for!  Not the corner fade.  Bass ackwards.

We may need to temper our expectations on Nield.  We want the next McInnis (even since he's been diminished in mid-2025), but we may be lucky to have a Brissett.

One thing I will add in his favor, though, is he seems spot on with his routes, and it's nice that teams aren't keying on him so he's often more open than a star would be.

Nield's biggest advantage is Zach seems to like throwing the ball at him, brings back good memories of Greg Ellingson and Andy Fantuz I guess.  Like them Nield is a big target with a good catch radius and the ability to get open farther downfield. Probably doesn't have any acrobatic ability but that's the trade off, considering the rest of his receivers are shifty and fast but undersized, it seems he has a preference for bigger targets.

[Tecno]

Shocking how ignored White was vs HAM.  You'd think you'd give the ex-HAM the chance to stick it to his old team.  You know, like Wheatie did to us.

I'm halfway through my rewatch and there are very little angles to show why we weren't targeting White much.

Why force it to Nield so much?

[Tecno]

3Q10:57 WPG FG attempt.  HAM has an illegal alignment, with 6 men on the right side of the LS, all on the line.  This is the rule brought in the season after the GC where there were 2 blocked FGs due to overloaded alignment.

Rule 5 Section 4 Article 3

The "sets up with an unbalanced line" qualifier does not apply because on a FG try the line will ALWAYS be unbalanced (2 back, 1 LS, 9 blocking = unbalanced line by 1).  Yes, WPG could have "shifted", hitting the other qualifier, but I've never seen WPG shift after setting.  We are so vanilla on FG tries.

This penalty has been called before since they made the rule, maybe 3 times?

Also, could probably call the 2nd possible foul in that rule: No one can line up within the pads of the LS.  The D closest to the LS appears to be inside that protected space.

Penalty for either is 5Y.  Puts us 3rd & 7, but an easier FG -- especially since Serge missed from that same range earlier in the game.

I wonder if it's challengeable?  In any event, MOS needs to be chirping at the refs for missing this.  Unless he missed this himself... he might be slipping with the rule-stickling in his old age.