After Saturday night’s game between the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts when both teams head to midfield to shake hands, keep an eye on the starting quarterbacks.

During Wednesday’s media conference call ahead of this weekend’s contest at BMO Field, James Franklin and Mike Reilly were asked about their interaction during that very moment. Had they thought about it? Would they hug it out regardless of who wins?

“Oh yeah, for sure! A two-handed hug to top it off,” said Franklin, as Reilly laughed in the background. “At least that’s what I’m envisioning! When you go out there and compete, you’re competing to try and win. You want to dominate your opponents. But you also form bonds. I think a lot of the guys do a good job of making sure they keep those relationships and there’s no hard feelings. I know that if someone is trying to come and hit me as hard as they can, I’m not going to take it personal. It’s kind of their job to try to make a good hit on me or the running back or the receivers or us make the guy miss on defence and try and score points.

“It’s nothing personal so I definitely am going to go up to Mike, whether he accepts it or not, and give him a big, two-handed hug.”

While Franklin was looking forward to the embrace with his former mentor, the Eskimos pivot wasn’t so sold on it.

“I’ve been working on my stiff arm so I don’t think that (the hug) is going to be an issue,” Reilly said with Franklin taking his turn to laugh with his former teammate.

“It’s friendship but it’s also the mutual respect even for guys that I have never played with, guys that I’ve just played against for years,” said Reilly, explaining the good sportsmanship that occurs after the game when each team gathers on the field together.

“It’s just that respect of knowing how much hard work that we all put in being prepared to play this game and how physical and how violent it is, how demanding it is mentally, physically. When the game’s over with, there’s nothing you can do to change the outcome of the game. At that point you respect your opponent and you go over there and congratulate them on a game that was played hard. And then if you have ex-teammates, it’s always good to catch up with them a little bit.”

But will we see the hug between the two buds?

“James, you can keep those two-handed hugs away from me, man.”