Kyle Myers
Ticats.ca
There weren’t any official meetings scheduled for Tuesday at the Tiger-Cats headquarters, but that didn’t stop plenty of players from self-organizing for a little extra film work.
About an hour after being announced as the CFL’s defensive player of the week, linebacker Simoni Lawrence explained his presence at the team’s facility on his day off.
“It’s an off-day, we don’t have to be here,” said Lawrence, who led all players with seven tackles in the East Semi-Final. “As a defence we thought we should get together as a group, watch film, get ready for Toronto.”
While it seems like a small gesture from Lawrence and his defensive teammates, it’s indicative of the attitude that surrounds the Tiger-Cats this season. Yes, these are professionals who are being paid to do what they do. But its days like Tuesday that demonstrate that what’s happening this year in Hamilton is much more than business-as-usual.
When Kent Austin was hired as the General Manager, Head Coach and Vice President of the Tiger-Cats, he talked about the culture he wanted to create in Hamilton. A culture of hard work, accountability, and most importantly, a culture of winning.
“We set the standard,” said Austin. “We set the ethos, the expectations and we stay consistent with it. But at the end of the day, players have to keep each other accountable because we’re not with them all the time. The players will always make the team that they want it to be.”
With a big win over Montreal on Sunday and an impromptu players-only film session on one of their few days off, it’s clear that Ticats players have truly bought in to what Austin is selling, and what they want is to be winners.
“I feel like together as a team we always believe in each other,” said Lawrence. “At the end of the day we work great as a team, I feel like it’s the culture Coach Austin talked to us about. Here, people genuinely like each other. It’s awesome.”
