Mitchell Blair
Ricky Foley may be the team nominee for the league’s top Canadian, but the defensive lineman is concentrating more on achieving a team goal set out at the start of the year amongst his teammates on the defensive line.
“At the start of the year, we said we wanted to be 1-2-3 and we are in a position to do that on Saturday,” Foley said. “I think it would be awesome to do that and there’s no reason to think we can’t. John (Chick) has had a monster year and look at the year Tearrius (George) has had. He’s had a special year getting 12 sacks out of the tackle position which is something I haven’t seen in a while and then you’ve got the numbers I put up. I am hoping when everything is wrapped up Saturday that we are 1-2-3 because that would be a special accomplishment.”
When it comes to being the top Canadian, Foley is more than happy to receive the recognition, but he laughs off talk of perhaps being the West nominee and maybe even the league winner.
“If I do it’s a blessing. “Foley said. “I would take Top Canadian in the Grey Cup for sure, but I would certainly take the honour if the voters thought I was deserving of it. There are a lot of good Canadians in this league and you certainly can’t ignore what Jon Cornish has done in just half a season, but whether or not playing just half a season hurts him or not is something we’ll find out.
Foley is no stranger to being the CFL’s top Canadian as he did it in 2009 as a member of the B.C Lions. However, he still had a lot of football in him when he won that award and he admits this highlight season which has arguably been his best comes at a time when he did consider retirement in the off-season after winning the Grey Cup.
“I’ve thought about that a little bit since I started coming on here in the final third of the season.” Foley admits. “Winning the award again five years later would be very special to me. That’s a pretty big gap and some players don’t have a career that lasts five years let alone win an award twice. It would be very special to do it again and it would mean a lot considering at this time a year ago I didn’t know if I was going to be playing at this time. The funny thing is while I was considering hanging it up a year ago, I have no desire to hang it up no matter how this season finishes.”
While Foley is the team’s top Canadian with those in favour presenting a solid argument as to why he should be the top Canadian in the West and the CFL, he is thinking more about the end of a season he thinks may be longer than many expect.
“I’m paying attention to what people are saying.” Foley said. “If people want to write us off that’s great, but despite what has happened in here over the past few weeks, there’s a good thing happening in here. If teams want to face us in the playoffs, then go ahead. I think we will have a lot of weapons at our disposal when we need them.
Foley’s teammate John Chick has been named a double nominee for player awards as he has gotten the nod for top defensive player and most outstanding player. The soft-spoken Chick is taking the nominations in stride.
“It’s very humbling,” Chick told reporters. “It’s nice to be recognized. There’s a lot of guys who have put in the blood sweat and tears who are definitely deserving of this. I’m honored to be named.”
Other Rider nominees for year-end awards are Dominic Picard (top lineman), Mark LeGree (rookie) and Tristan Jackson (special teams). All will be on the field Saturday night when the Green-and-White finish off the regular season with their last home game of the year. They will take on the Edmonton Eskimos in a 6 o’clock start.
