HAMILTON

Kent Austin wasn’t sure whether it was a good or bad thing training camp was wrapping up.

The Ticats head coach was a little conflicted because the fact that it’s over means he can no longer add to what felt like a growing daily total to the injured list.

But on the other hand, if it’s over, that means there is less time for those already hurt to get healthy if they are to be in the lineup when the games start to count a little over a week from now.

The Tabbies head out to Winnipeg this morning for the final pre-season tune-up Friday before opening the season a week from then in Calgary in a rematch of last season’s Grey Cup game.

The injuries began piling up even before the Ticats three-day mini-camp in late April.

They lost a pair of key Canadian pieces in recently signed free-agent wide receiver Spencer Watt and defensive tackle Linden Gaydosh when both, independent of the other, suffered Achilles injuries in preparation for the upcoming season.

Once in camp, the hits just kept on coming with defensive tackle Brian Bulcke, running back C.J. Gable, offensive lineman Joel Figueroa, defensive end Antonio Coleman, defensive back Johnny Sears, slotback Luke Tasker, running back Moises Madu, defensive back Rico Murray, and running back Nic Grigsby all going down with various injuries of varying degrees.

Offensive lineman Brian Simmons has also been held out of practice this week.

Bulcke and Madu are considered season-ending injuries along with Watt and Gaydosh — while the rest should be back at some point barring major setbacks.

But the sheer number of injuries has taken some of the shine off what has been a pretty solid camp otherwise.

“I’m not going to lie, it is frustrating, but as the old saying goes, you control what you can control and that is out of our control,” quarterback Zach Collaros said.

“Some things just happen.”

Collaros, ever the optimist, was still able to spin a positive out of the sudden run of injuries.

“I think you can always find a silver lining in things and it’s created opportunities for young guys and an opportunity for us to create more depth at those positions,” the Ticats starting quarterback said.

“I think where guys have gone down, others have done a good job of stepping up in their playbooks and knowing their assignments and things of that nature. I think it will only make us better in the long run — but it is frustrating.”

This is a team that began training camp deep at most positions on the roster and significantly deeper in upper-echelon Canadian talent than many of its CFL brethren.

That Canadian talent, so valuable in this league, took a decided hit with the losses of Bulcke, Watt, and Gaydosh for the year.

But it wasn’t just Canadian talent that took a hit.

The running-back position, which had to be one of the deepest on the roster coming into camp, heads into the final pre-season game with just two healthy running backs, neither of which were expected to contribute much at all this season.

Gable and Grigsby should be back at some point, but for now and the immediate future the Ticats will be banking on the likes of Ray Holley and Michael Ford.

Holley was a product of an off-season free-agent camp in Los Angeles.

Ford arrived in camp just last week after the running backs started dropping like flies.

And fortunately, Holley, at least from what Collaros has seen, has been one of those guys who has taken the opportunity and run with it.

“He was doing a great job before everyone went down and this has just given him more repetitions and a greater understanding of the offence because to look at it in the playbook is one thing and to go out and execute it is another,” Collaros said.

“He has gotten better and better each and every day.”

There remains one injury that has yet to be assessed and this has to be one the coaching staff is holding its collective breath on.

Slotback Luke Tasker, who has become such an integral part of the Ticats offence in a very short time and just this past off-season signed a three-year extension with the team, was hurt Sunday in practice but the extent of the injury has not been released by the Ticats who are still in the process of determining the severity.

For now they are calling it a lower-body injury.

Tasker grew up in Austin’s offence at Cornell University and quickly mastered the morphed Canadian Football version of it up here to the point that he has become a security blanket of sorts for Collaros.

There have already been some very big names go down in Hamilton this year.

Losing Tasker for a lengthy period of time would be right up there with the most important losses — if the worst-case scenario unfolds.

INJURY LIST

It has been a tough camp for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who were bitten more than their fair share by the injury bug. Here is a breakdown of who’s out. All four six-game injured-list guys are considered out for the year while the rest should all make it back at some point in 2015.

6-Game Injured List

RB Mossis Madu

WR Spencer Watt

DT Brian Bulcke

DT Linden Gaydosh

SUSPENDED LIST

DB Rico Murray

DB Jonny Sears Jr.

SB Luke Tasker

RB C.J. Gable

WR Giovanni Aprile

DE Antonio Coleman

UNABLE TO PRACTISE