'Honestly didn't think we'd be having this talk today': Riders hold final media availability for the season

It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

“It sucks. You don’t plan on this happening. I honestly didn’t think we’d be having this talk today. I felt like we’d be getting our bags packed to go to Vancouver. And unfortunately, we didn’t get it done yesterday and it hurts,” quarterback Trevor Harris shared.

The final day comes less than 24 hours after their Western Final loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who will go on to face the Toronto Argonauts in their fifth straight Grey Cup appearance.

“I laid awake thinking a lot last night, just an absolute pit in my stomach all night that still hasn’t gone away,” said Harris.

“Too many mistakes. That’s usually the recipe for disaster. When you make mistakes, people are able to capitalize and then you don’t get the results you want,” said defensive lineman, Miles Brown.

“I think watching the game, it was weird. There was some times I was maybe too aggressive when you could think about not being and then there were times I maybe wasn’t aggressive enough when I could have been. Hindsight is always 20/20. It’s a win or go home kind of game, there’s definitely a lot of things I looked at and been thinking about nonstop since last night,” Head Coach Corey Mace reflected.

The loss extended Saskatchewan’s Grey Cup drought to 11 years. Long snapper, Jorgen Hus, is currently the longest standing member of this team. He has been with the Riders for 10 of those 11 years.

“This one’s tough. I’ve been saying it all along since this team was put together that I think this is the best roster and team we’ve had. I thought this was the best chance that we’ve had in my 10 years here. I didn’t see last night going the way it did,” Hus shared.

Despite the loss, plenty of players were already optimistic about where this team is headed in the coming years. Especially those who were on the team for the 22-23 seasons when the Riders missed the postseason in its entirety.

“I think definitely that’s the silver lining in all of this is what we have to look forward to. Hopefully we can keep as many guys as possible in this room. I think we’re building something special regardless of what happened this year,” said offensive lineman, Logan Ferland.

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“Coach Mace’s first year, we’ve set a foundation for ourselves. We know what we want, the standard, and then we have to live up to that. I think going forward how tight knit this group was, man I love this group. I think it hurts the most because we have some really good guys in this group,” Brown added.

Questions surrounding who will be back loom, especially for quarterback Trevor Harris who will be 39 next year when training camp rolls around.

“I promised myself before the season I wouldn’t think about anything past this year until after this season. I wanted to make sure I came back [after my injury] a tier one quarterback for this organization and given them a chance to compete for championships,” Harris shared.

“I think the process starts now [thinking about my future]. Does this organization have a chance if I’m here? If the answer is no, I don’t want to be here because I care too much about this organization. They deserve top tier everything. If I’m not that, I should walk away and I will. I don’t feel like I’m physically deteriorated. They’ll make a sound decision. Whatever they decide is awesome.”

“I advise anybody who’s looking to become a head coach for the first time to have Trevor Harris as your quarterback,” Mace said with a smirk. “Extremely grateful for Trevor and everything he’s brought to this team.”

Mace did try to put a positive spin on the tough day as he also looked ahead to his future in Saskatchewan.

“I look forward to having an off season here and really immersing our family into the community and that’s all we want to be. We just want to be one of Ridernation,” said Mace. “We’re clear that’s [this season’s] not enough but I do think that we’re close to building something very special here.”