April 14, 2021

“There are good players all over the world” – Danny Maciocia

A crucial step towards the return to our beloved game will take place tomorrow with the GLOBAL DRAFT. This year’s first draft will give the CFL teams the opportunity to acquire talented new players coming from other countries around the world.

Tomorrow at 1:00 PM, our General Manager Danny Maciocia and his team will be acquiring 4 new “global” players, meaning players that are not Canadian or American eligible on a CFL list.

We sat down with our general manager to learn more about the upcoming global draft and get an idea of what kind of players we can expect.

The players we will acquire tomorrow will come from all over the world, not only from Europe but also Japan, Australia, and other countries where football is being played. We can also expect players who have played in the United States but have dual citizenship elsewhere in the world. We realize that there are good potential players all over the world.

Now, one might wonder how it is possible to evaluate 300 players originating from different places all  around the world on such a short delay…

To be eligible, the players had to take part in combines in their respective countries. This gave us the opportunity to access more information on their abilities on top of receiving several video footage of their performances.  We evaluated close to one hundred players total (on the 300 of the list) then, identified fifty out of those hundred that we interviewed.

Let us note that our Alouettes were fortunate enough to have Greg Quick by their side through this process. Greg Quick is our new defense and special teams assistant coach but prior to that, at the end of 2019 to be more precise, had been named first CFL Director of Global Scouting. An important position in the new 2.0 CFL strategy. This position gave him the opportunity to attend several international training camps in Finland, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico and even in Japan in 2020.

For sure, Greg’s experience will bring a different perspective while evaluating of these players. This is not his first rodeo which is a huge advantage for us over the other teams.

The draft will have 4 rounds, each team will therefore have the opportunity to acquire 4 players, or more depending on their needs.

We are looking for the best players out there, what ever position. In 2021, each team will need to dress to dress two global players therefore, we want two (2) players who will contribute to the success of the team.  Will they be starters, maybe not but they will be helping our special teams among other things.

One thing is for sure, new nationalities we have not seen before will start to appear on this year’s Alouettes roaster which is very exciting! A breath of fresh air during these rather unusual and challenging times…

We will have the 6th pick in the first round, we will see what the other teams will choose prior to our turn but yes, it is possible to see a Japanese, German or Australian on our team this year.

For this second edition of the global draft, CLF teams had to adapt to this unusual situation and find new ways to operate. For example, doing virtual interviews at 5:00 AM in the morning with players on the other side of the world who happened to be on a totally different time zone. However, if there is one thing the global draft has thought us, and to all the general managers, is that there are a lot of great and talented football players out there! All we need to do is open our horizons!