Ask football fans how they feel about pre-season games and the answers are invariably the same; they’re boring, there’s no rhythm, there’s no flow.
For players, coaches, and personnel departments and you’ll get a completely different answer.
While they can be far from aesthetically pleasing, pre-season games are an incredibly important piece of the architectural process of constructing a roster. Jobs can be won as easily as they can be lost.
Toronto Argonauts director of player personnel, Jim Barker, says that when his club visits Hamilton on Saturday in the first of their two pre-season games, nobody should take the field feeling their job is safe. He told Argonauts.ca the team’s starting lineup is not set.
“Far from it,” he said. “There are so many battles going on in terms of even who is going to make the squad. We have a lot of guys who have been starters and they have guys pressuring them to play. (It’s important) how those guys that were starters respond, and how those guys behind them perform.”
Suddenly, Saturday’s game becomes a lot more interesting, especially knowing that head coach Mike Miller echoed Barker’s sentiment.
“There’s a lot of competition on this team and they’re aware of it,” the coach told Argonauts.ca. “That’s our job. Through Pinball (general manager Michael Clemons), Jim (Barker), Coach Huf (senior advisor John Hufnagel), myself, and Jim’s staff, we want to add as much competition to every position as possible, and I believe we’ve done that.”
Which kind of player are the decision makers looking for?
“Guys that want to play the game the way we want them to play, with great passion,” said Miller. “Those who play fast and play physical and play smart as well. I’ve been very pleased with that to this point. (Saturday) is another test.”
Over the last two weeks the staff has familiarized themselves with the physical skills of each player, who is fast, who has good hands, who is strong, and who is good technically. What Miller wants to see is how they react in a non-practice situation.
“It’s an evaluation,” he said of the game. “How they understand things, how they’re communicating, how they execute the urgency, the fundamentals that they’re using, are they taking practice to the game? And we’re always going to measure physicality.”
It looks like there’s heavy rain forecast for Saturday’s game, perhaps lightening up a bit in time for the second half. That’s not ideal for players, and Barker admits that it’s equally frustrating for evaluators.
“It impacts in a lot of ways,” he said. “The ball is going to be wet; it’s going to limit the number of things you can do. You have to learn how to play in the elements. It will be a little tougher for them to do it with a wet uniform and in conditions that are less than desirable. But those that do are the guys you want come November when we’re lining up in the Grey Cup, and that’s what this is all about, is who do we want on our side when we’re lining up in November.”
Miller is a little less consumed by the weather report. He just wants to see his club perform the way he and his staff have been coaching them.
“I pay no attention to that (weather forecast) because that’s out of our control,” he said. “For us, it’s just going out and executing the play that’s called, executing on the same page together and relentlessly with speed to the ball, and play physical. That’s all we’re focused on.”
In a lot of cases a team will rest most of its starters during an away pre-season game, then allow fans to see their favourite player get some action during a home game. But Miller says, starting with the quarterbacks, fans will see some of the players who will be starters come regular season Week One.
That includes starting quarterback Chad Kelly, who will see his first action since suffering a serious injury in the 2024 Eastern Final.
“We may go just two or three series with Chad to start,” he said. “Then Nick (Arbuckle) to come in and play possibly the remainder of the first half, we’ll see how it’s going. And I would say starters across the board, with maybe some exceptions here or there, but for the most part that’s how we’ll go in this game.”
Some presumed starters and roster players will miss the game with minor aches and pains, but for those who will dress, Saturday presents a great opportunity to impress the people who will be making the decision on where they fit in, if at all, on the 2026 Toronto Argonauts.
ARGO NOTES: Earlier this week, Argonauts.ca recorded each player saying his name. Here are the phonetic spellings of some of the newcomers.
Anthony Guercio: GURR-shee-o
Qualon Jones: QWAY-lan
Dymere Miller: dy-meer. dy rhymes with by or tie.
Jyran Mitchell: JY-ran. JY rhymes with by or tie.
Weagbe Mombo: WEE-ah-bay
Victor Olaniran: oh-LONN-ih-ran
Sebastien Parsalidis: par-sa-LEE-dis
Tyriq Quayson: ty-REEK QWAY-son
Rush Reimer: RIME-er
Savonne Rhea: sah-vonn ray
Alexander Teubner: TOOB-ner. Alexander, not Alex.
Soane Toia: so-AWN-ee toh-EE-ah
Frank Vreugdenhil: VROOG-den-hill