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Consider the U.S. college bowl season. Wouldn’t it be nice to follow a game — especially an obscure one — while paying particular attention to someone who is on the Roughriders’ radar?

Of course, there aren’t any guarantees that the player will ever end up in Saskatchewan — or even in the CFL, for that matter.

And there are times when a player isn’t even aware that his name has been placed on a negotiation list. Additionally, given the ever-changing nature of the negotiation lists, a player can be added and subtracted within a matter of days, if not hours or even minutes.

Clearly, there are some logistical and-or communications issues to overcome, but they are hardly insurmountable. (See again: Tillman, Eric.)

As it stands, negotiation-list-related information leaks out in morsels. Some football-operations types are not averse to selectively releasing the information, albeit in clandestine fashion, so is there really a need for it to be protected so fiercely?

The case in favour of confidentiality is most fragile when a trade is announced. In the example of the trades involving Coleman and Campbell, only part of the story was told.

It hasn’t always been that way, mind you.

On April 12, 2006, for example, the Roughriders swung a blockbuster deal with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on the morning of a dispersal draft involving members of the defunct Ottawa Renegades.

Then-Roughriders general manager Roy Shivers, who was in desperate need of a quarterback, traded for the first overall selection — which was then wisely spent on Kerry Joseph. (The next year, Joseph was named the CFL’s most outstanding player three days before piloting Saskatchewan to the third Grey Cup title in franchise history.)

In return for the opportunity to add Joseph, Shivers relinquished tailback/returner Corey Holmes, safety Scott Gordon and a first-round selection in the 2007 CFL draft.

The reportage of the day also specified that the teams had swapped negotiation-list quarterbacks. Saskatchewan surrendered the rights to Reggie Ball in return for those of (cue trumpets) Darian Durant.

That deal — quickly revealed in full — turned out rather well, didn’t it?

rvanstone@postmedia.com

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