The black fence at the north end of Lamport Stadium does an adequate job obscuring passing glances, but anyone lingering for a minute on King Street West could be privy to quite a view. In the aftermath of a rugby league practice on a hot July afternoon, members of the Toronto Wolfpack have dragged out a hose, flipped up the lids on two sizable plastic garbage bins and created a DIY ice dip. Rest assured, the sight of 230-pound Tongan prop Fuifui Moimoi submerged to his bare barrel chest warrants a double take, but even before bath time, shirts were an optional part of today’s practice. The team’s 56-year-old director of rugby, Brian Noble, peeled his off to soak in some rays on the sidelines, at times lying on the artificial turf. The majority of players went through their paces as skins, too, almost as if the fittest roofing crew on earth decided to spend their lunch hour playing a little rugby.

In a few days, Lamport will actually be visited by a group of part-time players. In Toronto for a Kingstone Press League 1 game, they’ll become the latest squad to feel just how serious the Wolfpack can be. Toronto’s collective easy spirit, however, always returns in full force once the work is done. “I think we recognize fun is an important part of professional sport,” says Noble. “And if we can show that fun — with the entertaining brand we play — to our fans, they’re going to pick up on that and enjoy our people.”