It’s the last long weekend of summer and I can’t wait!

OK Tire Labour Day Weekend means you have three of the best rivalries in Canadian sports packed into two days on a long weekend.

To honour this cherished tradition of the CFL, I’ve compiled the Canadians each team will need to step up if they’re going to prevail this coming weekend!

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS

PATRICK NEUFELD | CHRIS KOLANKOWSKI | GABE WALLACE | OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

The interior of the offensive line needs to protect Zach Collaros from the team with the most sacks in the Canadian Football League and open holes for Oliveira.

If the Bombers hope to leave Regina with a victory on Sunday, it’ll be up to the trio of Canadians in the middle of the offensive line to be the hammer and not the nail.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS

A.J. ALLEN | LINEBACKER

 

A.J. Allen, this is your mission. Do not let Brady Oliveira out of your sights.

Allen has stepped up tremendously this season after the injury to C.J. Avery at the start of the season and the departure of Adam Auclair in the off-season.

While a bulk of the duty may be on Thurman in the middle of the defence, Allen will be tasked in coverage of Oliveira out of the backfield at times and to help fill the gaps when the Bombers predictably make Oliveira the focus of their offence.

If Allen can help the Riders defence force Zach Collaros into trying to beat the Riders through the air because they can’t get anything going on the ground, it increases the Riders’ odds of victory tremendously.

TORONTO ARGONAUTS

KEVIN MITAL | RECEIVER

 

The Toronto Argonauts absolutely do not run the football.

Their run game is Kevin Mital. The only players in the top 45 of CFL receiving with a lower target depth are Brady Oliveira, James Butler and Justin Rankin.

Do you notice something there? They’re all running backs. So Mital has become a pseudo-receiving tailback for the Argonauts, and his ability to break tackles is fun to watch. He leads the league in target-to-catch percentage and is right up there in YAC.

Mital needs to be that balance in the Argonauts arsenal for the Labour Day Classic for the Argos to slow the game down, because if they get into a shootout against the Tiger-Cats again, it’s going to go as well as it did the first time.

I think if Mital can hammer out some 10-15 yard gains and pick up first downs on second and medium, it’s going to go a long way towards owning time of possession.

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS

STAVROS KATSANTONIS | DEFENSIVE BACK

 

Stavros Katsantonis is my pick for the National player that needs to step up against the Argonauts (if he’s healthy). I know he was a late scratch last game against Saskatchewan,but then the team went on their bye week, so I’m expecting him to be back. If the Argonauts want to air it out like they did last week, the Tiger-Cats safety – whoever that is – is going to have to come down with one or two.

Arbuckle is having an impressive season, especially over the last few weeks, and Katsantonis has to be the centre fielder to dissuade Arbuckle from hitting some deep balls or at least making the right read to make Arbuckle hold on to the ball a little longer.

While I think the Tiger-Cats would welcome a shootout, like I mentioned earlier, they’d be wise to rattle Arbuckle early before he gets into a rhythm.

EDMONTON ELKS

KAION JULIEN-GRANT | KURLEIGH GITTENS JR. | RECEIVER

Justin Rankin has more receiving yards than these two Canadians and they were brought in to do big things. The time is now to do it.

Gittens Jr. is a former 1,000-yard receiver before he came to Edmonton and the Elks need him to regain that form.

Beating the Stampeders is going to be hard enough, but if they don’t have the weapons to get it done through the air, it’s going to be a long afternoon at McMahon Stadium.

If Gittens Jr. can be the big playmaker we know he can, a massive play on Monday could go a long way toward pulling off a major upset.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS

JALEN PHILPOT | RECEIVER

 

What would a column on Canadians who need to step up be without mentioning a Philpot?

While Tyson doesn’t play this week, Jalen Philpot does so much for the Stampeders offence that he’s crucial to success every week, let alone on Labour Day.

I thought the run he did early in the game set the tone against the Roughriders to make that defence a little off balance and then his stretch for the touchdown was unbelievable.

With the Elks gaining a little bit of mojo going into the Labour Day Weekend, it’ll be a player like Philpot who can break their will with his ability to get open, run by tackles and just be an all-around impressive athlete.