There was a time in August, shortly after Nathan Rourke injured his ankle, that many thought his season was over. In truth, it was sad; especially for a rookie player who had started the season so extraordinarily well.
Perhaps ‘well’ is an understatement however, as Rourke, in fact shattered records, and played impressive game after impressive game. There were a few losses, yes, but help carry the team to where they were at when he went out, or rather, worked with them to get them where they were, is the description that the humble Rourke would prefer.
The Lions struggled with a few QBs…Michael O’Connor, Antonio Pipkin, then Vernon Adams Jr. … and he has served them as best as he could, coming into the season when he did.
In the end, they are going to the playoffs and they have one match left to the regular season. Many are saying it’s a useless match, but in the end, perhaps it’s a lot more important than most would believe
For one, it’s important because Rourke is indeed coming back, as the Canadian Press via Yahoo! Sports has reported, and it’ll give him a chance to play with the team he was such a great addition to in the early portion of the pre-season.
The second reason why this is an important game after all, or can be perceived to be by some, is that if they score a win, they can state that they defeated the returning Grey Cup champions twice in a row, which in turn would be a massive boost to the team that has suffered an injured QB and some difficult terrain there for a while.
Regardless, all’s well that ends well, as the expression goes. And what does Rourke have to say about the opportunity?
“For a good second there, I was trying to forget about football…I was trying to distract myself with friends and family and their support. I watched a lot of things on the internet. … There were days where you don’t want to even think about it. So I just went on movie marathons and stuff like that…
I’m just happy to be able to have a chance to play and I think this week is a bonus, for sure…I think that throughout the process, we were pretty sure that I was going to be able to play in the playoff games and we were kind of wait-and-see about anything else. To be at this point is pretty cool.”
via Yahoo (link above)
Head coach, Rick Campbell also chimed in on the awesome news:
“It’s part of what we’ve talked about over the weeks…We could go the route of just letting him play in the (West Division semifinal), but I think he’s going to feel better getting back out there and getting some live action and just getting back to it. So that’s all part of this whole path back to playing.”
via Yahoo (link above)
So the playoffs are indeed a possibility for Rourke, as we’ve just seen from these comments; both men are indeed hopeful, as the fans are as well. But what of the game? It seemingly has no importance, but yet as we just went through, there is indeed a point to watch after all…
Also of note: Back in July, when the Lions faced the Bombers the last time, Rourke was present, and they did sadly lose; winning this time is perhaps something Rourke would like to accomplish. The old something to prove, perhaps.
In the end, playoff-wise, the game matters not, but if looking at it in terms of ego, which isn’t usually Nathan Rourke’s bag, it matters a whole heck of a lot. Game goes down tomorrow, Friday October 28th at 8:30 PM EST.
*For all your 2022 CFL Season News: CFL News Hub
