The Saskatchewan Roughriders had 10 players get banged up in last week’s loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, prompting the team to bring back running back Rodney Smith and sign two new Canadians. Head coach Craig Dickenson indicated that he’s not concerned about the club’s injury situation, though they have plenty of work to do to determine who will ready to play against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday.
“We’re a little beat up, there’s no doubt, but I think we’re going to be alright. We’ll see how it goes,” Dickenson told the media in Regina. “You always have to work on improving your roster and Canadian depth is always an issue and always something each team has challenges trying to address. We want to make sure we’ve got good Canadians and I feel like we have good Canadians here.”
Those who missed practice this week after dressing against Winnipeg are running back Frankie Hickson (shoulder), fullback Albert Awachie (hamstring), receiver Juwan Brescacin (shoulder), defensive linemen DeMarcus Christmas (knee), Nic Dheilly (head), Lake Korte-Moore (hamstring), and Anthony Lanier II (foot), and defensive backs Rodney Clemons (ankle), Jayden Dalke (back), and Rolan Milligan Jr. (back).
Of those 10 players, Dickenson named Awachie, Dalke, Korte-Moore, Lanier, and Milligan as some he’s optimistic will play against Calgary. Dickenson is also hopeful that strong-side linebacker Derrick Moncrief will play after missing the first two games of the season due to a shoulder injury that dates back to 2022. He was a full participant in practice this week.
Dickenson also downplayed the fact that the head coach of the Stampeders, Dave Dickenson, is his younger brother. He said that he and his brother don’t have a friendly bet on the outcome of the game, joking that he always pays for dinner anyway since he’s older.
“(Calgary)’s a good team, well-coached, always well-prepared. It’ll be a tough challenge,” said Dickenson. “(This game) has significance for our team and it has significance for Calgary’s team. We’re both 1-1 and I think they’re into a bye as we are (next week), so it’s a lot nicer to be going into a bye 2-1 than 1-2, so it’s a big game.”
The Riders (1-1) are scheduled to visit the Calgary Stampeders (1-1) on Saturday, June 24 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. Saskatchewan will hold one final practice on Thursday before declaring their game-day roster on Friday.
