Mace disciplines team after punch thrown at Rider training camp

Head coach Corey Mace held his team accountable after a player threw a punch on the field during Day 4 of Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp.

The intensity grew as players strapped on the pads and battled one another during the second half of practice at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

The physicality heated up between the offensive and defensive lines so much that an altercation after a play led to rookie defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado throwing a punch at an offensive player.

“That’s very, very, very undisciplined,” said coach Mace after practice.

“We had a big meeting last night about the importance of penalties – so to have them come out here and have something like that is disappointing to see, but I think we handled it.”

After the punch, Mace blew his whistle and yelled at his team, “If you do that during a game, you’re going to get ejected.”

He then sent all the players to run as a few dozen fans cheered from the sidelines.

“It’s something we won’t tolerate,” Mace added. “It’s certainly something that hurts a team. Moving forward, I don’t anticipate seeing it again.

Despite the small melee, Mace was happy with how intense and loud things were between the offensive and defensive lines.

“I  don’t know if you guys know Anthony Lanier II, but he’s just a loudmouth by nature,” Mace joked. “That’s usually when the most talking happens (at camp) -– when the pads come on.”

Lanier II commented on the punch after practice.

“It gets a little chippy out there. You got a lot of testosterone pumping out there, and people want to be working,” he said. “At the same time, this is people’s livelihoods that they have to fight for – whether they be here today or gone tomorrow – you always have to think about the bigger picture of what they’re going through mentally.”

Philip Blake tried to separate the players from letting the altercation spread further.

“It’s part of practice,” Blake said. “Everybody has been training for the last five to six months, so once you get out here, you want to put it to work, and chippiness happens, and it’s just part of the trenches.”

Blake added it’s not the first time he’s seen punches thrown on a football field and thinks coach Mace did a great job handling the situation.

“Everyone understood the message he was trying to convey — that you’re wasting time, and this is not what championship teams do.”

Guardian caps allowed in games

On Wednesday, the CFL announced some changes to their health and safety including allowing players to now wear the Guardian caps during all games, if they choose to do so.

The league said the caps and other measures led to a 42 per cent decrease in training camp concussions in 2023.

Lanier II thinks this is a good move for the CFL.

“I think it’s going to help out a lot because we do have a lot of concussions going on around,” he explained. “If the league is with it, I’m with it.”

Blake doesn’t think he’ll wear the cap in games but is all for safety and players wearing it if they choose.

“If it protects you, it protects you. When we’re in the trenches, I don’t notice a difference between having it on,” he said. “If guys want to do it for protection, I’m not going to stop anyone for it.”