The one constant in the CFL is change, a series of moves from week to week, auditions, adjustments, player movement all designed for a late-season run.

Jim Barker has seen it all, experienced it all, been around the block, understands it’s not how a team starts, but how one finishes that will make or break a season.

The Argos are at the half-way mark, a 4-5 team that has lost three in a row, all at home, with Labour Day fast approaching and the start of a home and home set with the Ticats.

It looks bleak, from afar, but Barker looks at the big picture and understands what eventually looms on the horizon.

In the CFL, the final six games are used to build momentum, a time when the push for the post-season officially begins.

“The first half of the season is when you figure out who your team is,’’ said Barker, very aware that the 2012 Argos won the Grey Cup by catching their rhythm at the end, despite compiling a 9-9 record. “We have a new defensive co-ordinator (Rich Stubler), tried to put players in from different places and it takes time.

“Offensively, I think, you hope the first of the season you develop depth for down the road and I think that’s happened. And now we’re getting healthy. We played well, but not well enough the other night (in losing to B.C.), but you can see signs where Ricky (Ray) looked like he’s going to be fine and defensively I thought we played very well with a lot of new guys and they will get better as the season goes.

“The key is the last six games and you have to be good. We have a tough schedule (down the stretch) with two against Calgary, in Edmonton. We’ll see what happens. You never know how teams gel and how things work together.”

Kenny Shaw has emerged as a starting receiver when injuries provided him a break.

The offensive line, other than an ankle injury to Greg Van Roten, has been fielding the same look.

“We need to continue to get better,’’ Barker said of his offence. “I think our defence will continue to get better and I thought they played well the other night. Coach Stubler is getting a feel for what his guys can do. We get Josh Mitchell (defensive back) back for this game, Jermaine Gabriel (safety) back next week and slowly we’re starting to get guys back. Cory Greenwood (linebacker) will be back in early October for the last six games.

“One of the problems you have when you turn it (roster) over like we have, is leadership. We haven’t created that and that happens over time. Hopefully here in the next few games (leadership develops). We started 4-2, lost our last three and that’s not a good thing.”

As Barker would admit, these are tough times for the Argos, but in tough times leadership and character are revealed.

“The guys you win with are the guys right now who can pull it together and figure out how to make the team better,’’ Barker added. “The first nine games of the season is developing your roster.”

Cap-wise, Barker says the Argos are in a “good’’ position to add quality parts.

“If someone becomes available, we feel can put us over the top at any position we have the ability to go out and sign him,’’ Barker added.

It also comes down to the right fit.

“Right now, we’re happy with our team, happy with our young players,’’ Barker said.

RAY RICE EYES CFL

The CFL has often been referred to as a league of second chances, a league where teams have overlooked personal indiscretions, misdemeanors and missteps by offering a player a new lease on life.

If one were to scan each and every roster of all nine teams, it’s almost inevitable not to find a handful of players with some personal baggage.

While the subject is extremely sensitive given the nature of his past behavior, it has been learned that representatives for one-time NFL running back Ray Rice have been contacting CFL teams to gauge interest in a player who last played in 2013.

It’s believed two of the teams to be contacted are Toronto and Hamilton, the historic rivals who will tee it up this Labour Day for the first of two meetings in a seven-day span.

Ray is 29 and his game is tailor made for the CFL.

There’s no question the guy can have an impact, perhaps a huge presence, but the question surrounds his actions from 2014 when he was still a member of the NFL’s Ravens.

For those unaware of his history, a video surfaced of Ray essentially knocking out a female, at that time his fiancee and now his wife, in a casino elevator in Atlantic City.

Rice has gone to great lengths to help clear his name and each and every time he appears in front of a camera or makes himself available for an interview, Ray comes across as contrite.

It has done nothing to entice any NFL offers.

For all intents and purposes, Rice has played his last game in the NFL, which is why the CFL is being pursued.

No one wants to talk publicly about Rice, for obvious reasons, and it would be hard for any team in the CFL to justify the move.

To be blunt, Rice has become radioactive and it’s not even known if a CFL would grant him a workout.

He didn’t have a good season in his final year in Baltimore, marred by injuries, but Rice certainly has all the hallmarks CFL teams covet from a running back.

One would think any talk of even discussing anything with Rice’s representatives would have to involve ownership.

With the Argos, it’s hard to see how Bell and Larry Tanenbaum, the team’s co-owners, would sign off.

Bob Young and his team led by Scott Mitchell have done a wonderful job of transforming the Ticats, on and off the field, and signing Rice would seem equally unlikely.

NO HOMECOMING FOR DUO

Justin Hickman and Bryan Hall, barring a miracle, aren’t in the plans on Labour Day when the Argos travel to the Hammer to play the host Ticats.

Hickman and Hall are ex-Ticats, two veteran defensive linemen who left Hamilton for Toronto in free agency.

With the Argos, who are coming off a 16-13 loss to B.C. Wednesday night, limited to basically one practice day, it seems highly unlikely either veteran will dress Monday.

But one never knows when any player on any given day can get hurt.

Free agency hasn’t been kind to the Argos, a team that released Keon Raymond — who was lured from Calgary — Jerald Brown (Montreal) and Brian Bulcke (Hamilton).

Defensive co-ordinators such as Rich Stubler in Toronto and Orlondo Steinauer in Hamilton love vets and the Argos did a lot of free-agent shopping for veterans this off-season.

It hasn’t panned out, clearly, and football is a tough game where hard decisions are made daily, hourly for that matter.

Shawn Lemon has emerged as a true presence at rush end, often rotating with Hickman.

Ken Bishop, who missed the B.C. game with an ankle injury, will be back at defensive tackle.

Tracy Robertson returned from an injury against the Lions and he too lines up inside.

BOATMEN ADD BOLLES

To the casual football fan, the name Brady Bolles isn’t going to bowl you over at first glance.

Truth be told, only diehards would have heard his name and how Bolles lit up D-2 football in the U.S., the sort of background where a lot of CFL quarterbacks originate.

“He’s a champion,” Argos head coach Scott Milanovich said of Bolles on Friday, the day when the club signed the 6-foot-3 native of Lincoln, Neb., to the practice roster.

“He won at the Division II level, well-coached, has some mobility and played with what looked to be a fairly sophisticated offence. I haven’t seen him throw in person yet, but we all like him so far.”

At Northwest Missouri State, Bolles led his team in 2015 to a 15-0 record and a national championship in D-2.

In four years, Bolles had a record of 26-2 as starter for the Bearcats.

During his career, Bolles passed for 7,728 yards and rushed for 1,911 yards.

While Milanovich just met Bolles on Friday, GM Jim Barker has been tracking the QB.

The kid has plenty to learn and there’s no telling when he’ll get his shot.

Against B.C. in Toronto’s last-second loss, the Argos used veteran Dan LeFevour, who was signed a month ago, in short yardage.

Bolles brings the number of QBs the Argos have under contract to five.

ARGOS MOOD ‘AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE’

After watching film of his team’s 16-13 loss to B.C., there wasn’t much for Scott Milanovich to glean other than what he already knew in the immediate aftermath.

The Argos played hard, prepared well all week, but when a play or two isn’t made, when a play or two is made by the opposition, a field goal on the game’s final play decides the outcome.

“We keep doing that and we’ll be all right,” Milanovich said.

No one got hurt, but roster changes are coming for Labour Day when the Argos visit Hamilton.

The Argos were off Thursday with Friday being a large install day for the team, which is coming off a short week and has one full day of practice, Saturday, coupled with another large install.

Milanovich was asked about his team’s mood.

“Considering their heart was torn out a couple of days ago, it was as good as it can be,” he said. “I think they know they are on the right track the way they attacked the week and how hard they played. It certainly doesn’t guarantee us anything, but it gives you a chance every week. There was no shame in how they played (against B.C.).