Argonauts understand hard work lies ahead with season coming to end

The Toronto Argonauts conclude their season against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats looking to show that lessons have been learned in 2019.

Ask anybody on the Toronto Argonauts and they will tell you that it’s hard to sugarcoat a 4-17 record.

This is why Saturday’s season finale in Hamilton will give some players a chance to find a silver lining in their season and provide something to build off of while the Tiger-Cats are in playoff preparation mode with most of the starting lineup getting the night off.

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Dakota Prukop and Michael O’Connor will get more playing time after a promising audition against the Ottawa Redblacks. Of course, both would prefer that the situation was different but aren’t taking the opportunity for granted.

For Prukop, he wasn’t happy about his first performance of the season in Edmonton and was appreciative of the fact that he got another chance to show what he could do with a week of preparation. This is why getting the start means a lot to him because he gets the chance to show he can do more than just play special teams.

"“I’m hungry for opportunities, and I’m hungry to just keep progressing. As a quarterback. At the end of the day, I just want to become the best version of myself and the best quarterback I can be,” said Prukop earlier this week. “It’s, it’s hard to do that without opportunities and reps. So, you know, I’m patiently waiting for two years to get some opportunity. And I finally did, and now I’m even hungrier for more.”"

Prukop credits S.J. Green and the leadership group for keeping the team’s mindset in the right place heading into each place.

"“One of the things he always says and breaks us down on is just, you know, approach you know, each day and give it your best, you know, we’re paid to do this,” said Prukop “… Yeah, playoffs are out of reach, but you know, becoming the best player you can be is not.”"

This has been one of the key positives from head coach Corey Chamblin who believes his team had one of their best games at all three phases because all players knew exactly what they needed to do.

While it might have taken longer than Chamblin wanted, he understood when he took the job that this was going to be a process but is optimistic seeing the growth from the players. He believes the team is establishing a core to build around and it won’t be long until they can take the next step which is something McLeod Bethel-Thompson believes.

"“We played stretches where we played really good football, and we showed our talent and when you have a talented football team like this, we’re going to do that and so the challenge is to do that consistently and we haven’t done that,” said Bethel-Thompson.“Are we getting more wins? Yes. But I don’t think we’re playing consistent football like you need to play championship football. I don’t think we’re still at that stage. But there’s a ton of work to be done.”"

Establishing continuity is what this group hopes can be the key to taking the next step but the team has to prove that they can reach their potential and that’s where the hard work lies ahead.

dark. Next. Argonauts players taking advantage of opportunity for 2020

What are you looking forward to watching in the season finale? What do the Argos need to prove in the off-season? Let us know in the comments below.

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