EDMONTON – It’s time for that first taste of Elks Football.
Edmonton will kickoff their preseason on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium with a mid-afternoon matchup (2:00 p.m. MT) against the rival Saskatchewan Roughriders.
While the game won’t mean much when it comes to the year-end standings, it will mean everything for many players inside the Double E’s locker room. The game represents a chance to show General Manager and Head Coach Chris Jones that they can translate what they see in the classroom and put it to action on the field.
It’s an opportunity for all inside the locker room, just with varying stakes. For the established players like a McLeod Bethel-Thompson, it’s a chance to see some live bullets from an opposing defence allowed to tackle him and work on his chemistry with Geno Lewis and Kyran Moore.
For others, it’s a chance to firmly move themselves from the bubble to the roster, and prove that they truly belong in this league.
Saturday will be the second time the Saskatchewan Roughriders have hit the field this week, having already toppled the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a 25-12 score to kickoff the CFL on May 20. Former Elks QB Trevor Harris got the start, completing 7 of 9 passes for 123 yards, so it should be expected that Saskatchewan will bring a fairly rookie heavy contingent to Edmonton.
You can watch the game live at Commonwealth Stadium. For Tickets to the game, CLICK HERE. You can also watch the game live on TSN and CFL+, or listen to it on the radio on CISN Country.
THE A-TEAM
For fans watching the game, expect a healthy dose of the Game 1 starters – that means McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Kevin Brown, Eugene Lewis, and company.
“Yeah, we’re going to play a good portion of the guys,” Jones said. “We’ll play everyone on our roster, but the A’s are going to get some good, solid work for them.”
The Elks new-look offence will definitely be a focal point, with Bethel-Thompson and company looking to get off to a hot start to the year. While the Elks quarterback said coming away with a touchdown in his limited time would be ideal, making sure the offence operates cleanly in their reps is just as important.
It was a sentiment echoed by his head coach, whose expects a detail-oriented approach by his team on Saturday.
“We want to be efficient in and out of the huddle,” Jones said. “We want to be able to tackle well, leverage a football well. We don’t want to give up big plays, certainly defensively and then on special teams. We want it to be a solid outing.”
Jones’s dual roles means he’ll have to be as focused on player evaluation as he is on how well guys have been absorbing the playbook.
“You want to go out and be able to evaluate your players. That’s the main thing is be able to evaluate your team,” he said. “You certainly never try to play a game to lose, regardless if it’s a preseason game or not, but at the same time it’s about preparing your players to play in a real game.”
DUBLANKO DEBUT
Saturday is far from the first rodeo for LB Joel Dublanko, but its definitely going to be a special one.
The Elks first-overall pick in the 2024 CFL Draft is set to make his Green and Gold debut against the Roughriders, but he’s already well experienced in what suiting up for a professional team is like. Dublanko’s first preseason contest came back in 2022 when he was a member of the Seattle Seahawks Training Camp roster.
In the Aug.13 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Aberdeen, Wash. product led the Seahawks with eight-total tackles. Not too bad for a guy who admits he was just trying to play on instinct.
“My first preseason game, I had no idea what I was doing, so I was just making sure that I just played hard no matter what,” Dublanko said about the game. “I’ve got quite a bit more of an idea what I’m doing now. I’m just excited to go out there and play fast, fly around, have fun with the boys, and go get a dub.”
What will be different for Dublanko is this will be his first taste of Canadian Football League action. Despite his very Albertan roots, this will be the first time the top pick has ever played a pro game with 12 players per side. He doesn’t expect a massive adjustment, but it will be nice to get more familiar with the little subtleties of the Northern game.
“We practice so much and we practice all the different rules and everything like that, but to see it in a live game situation, I think it’s going to make just a few more kind of things click,” Dublanko said. “I’m really excited to get a crack at my first CFL game, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The other tantalizing prospect for Dublanko is his first chance to suit up in front of the Commonwealth faithful. He’ll be a part of the same team his grandparents watched on their first date, so he can’t wait to hear the support of the home crowd.
“Gotta have a lot of Elks fans out there supporting,” Dublanko said. “Love for you guys show out.”