Statement from agent Darren Gill
‘I’d like to sincerely apologize to George Cortez, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and most importantly Casey Creehan for the remarks I made on a Montreal radio station on Wednesday. I have been proudly representing Tiger-Cats for the past 10 years and my comments were in no way meant to cause the problems that they did. I became caught up in the moment and inadvertently said some things that were inappropriate. The Tiger-Cats are a first-class organization and I sincerely regret making the comments. I look forward to maintaining my strong relationship with the team.”
Cortez: a light moment in practice
The Tiger-Cats’ Head Coach and Director of Football Operations George Cortez took a moment at the conclusion of his team’s Thursday morning practice to make light of his twice crossing paths with receiver Fantuz in the midst of drills.
Finding himself in the path of his star’s routes on two separate occasions, Cortez joked that those were hardly the first inadvertent hits he had taken in the course of a practice.
“It was hot, and of course I got run over,” said Cortez of the Thursday practice. “But that’s not the first time that’s happened and it probably won’t be the last time either. But I don’t have any concussion symptoms, so I’ll be okay (laughs). I know it was [Fantuz]. The first time it was my fault, because I thought the ball was going somewhere else. The second time was my fault too, I saw him coming but I just couldn’t get out of the way. I haven’t lost a step, I just never had it.”
Cortez: ‘flabbergasted’ by Gill’s comments
Head Coach George Cortez was adamant that Gill’s comments will have no effect on him or his players as they continue to prepare for their upcoming tilt against the Argonauts.
“It’s just a part of what goes on,” said Cortez of the incident. “It doesn’t distract me. The guys who have been here know me well and they know that that hasn’t happened. The part about Henry, it had never even crossed my mind that there was a problem there. Because as I said, we knew that he was going back in the third quarter and I just didn’t want another bad play before the half. I couldn’t have been more flabbergasted by the whole thing.”
R. Williams: defence is steadily improving
Asked to assess the Ticats’ defensive strides in practice this week, middle linebacker Rey Williams affirmed that the Black and Gold were continuing to improve on that side of the ball.
“We’re getting better every week,” said Williams.
“Like I’ve said, the first week was rough and the second week – even though it looked rough – really was better. We’re going to be even better this week, and we’ve got to stop the run, get to the quarterback and be better on special teams. If we can do those three things, we’ll be successful.”
R. Williams: winning will eliminate speculation
Williams indicated he had only heard of the controversial remarks at the conclusion of practice. He argued that such statements would be swept aside were the Ticats to win on Saturday.
“I don’t really read the paper and listen to those things,” said the linebacker. “I’m just here with my teammates. I knew it was going to be a process this season. We’ve got a new coordinator and a lot of new guys on defence and the d-line is completely new. We’ve just got to fight through it and get better.
“It’s a non-issue, because it hasn’t happened and I don’t even know where they even got that from. It’s all good over here. Nobody’s pointing fingers over here or screaming at anybody. We’re just one big happy family here and we just want to get that ‘W’. When we’re losing, people are looking at everything. But if we had pulled out that game last week, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Winning fixes everything, and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
