Virtual meetings to be part of Riders' game plan

Even though the Saskatchewan Roughriders have expansive meeting facilities at Mosaic Stadium, virtual gatherings will nonetheless be commonplace after the CFL team convenes for training camp July 10.

“To be socially distanced, a meeting room that holds 100 now, all of a sudden, holds 40, and we have more than 40 guys,” head coach Craig Dickenson said when asked about anticipated COVID -19 precautions.

“We'll have to figure out a way to probably have the big meetings virtually. When we get into more smaller groups, hopefully we've got enough space to do it.

“The reality is we'll probably have to have half of our meetings virtually and we're hoping to have a percentage of our meetings in person, but if we can't, we can't. We'll just do the best we can with what we're given.”

Effective time management will be of the essence.

“The main thing is that it's going to be a little more time-intensive,” Dickenson said during a Zoom call with reporters.

“Guys aren't just going to be able to roll in and sit in the meeting. They're going to have to come in a little earlier, do the testing, and do the protocols.

“There's going to have to be a sense of patience that coaches don't have that we'll have to work on and say, `Hey, we've got to be a little more patient.'

“Everything 's going to take a little longer, and we'll figure it out as we go along.”

SCRUTON SIGNS

The Roughriders announced the signing of Australian punter Ben Scruton on Friday.

Scruton, from Melbourne, played for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors from 2016 to 2019.

In his senior year, he punted 20 times for an average of 44.1 yards.