If you ask Abdul Kanneh, the only thing worse than playing through the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ 0-8 start last year was to watch it helplessly from the sidelines.

“I see myself as a high-calibre player and I try to play to that. You talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk, too,” the Ticats’ defensive back said earlier this week.

Kanneh, 27, joined the Ticats as a free-agent after winning a Grey Cup with the Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2016. A pair of injuries saw him only get into one game in the first half of the season, a Week 6 loss to Calgary.

“Not being able to play (until) halfway through the season, I was hurt, but at the same time I knew I had teammates behind me that had my back, had training staff that had my back,” he said. “I just made sure I got back right and made sure I was in tip-top shape for later on to help out in the season and hopefully make a Grey Cup run.”

They came up short of their playoff hopes but went 6-10 to close things out. Through seven games, Kanneh had 17 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Six months later, Kanneh is ready to help his team pick up where they left off last season, revitalized in each phase of the game.

There wasn’t a huge personnel change in the Ticats’ defence, but it’s led by a new face this season, in defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville. It’s a change, Kanneh admits, but nothing drastic.

“Last year we always said we were going to be tough, run fast to the ball and always pursue and hit hard,” he said.

“Using (Glanville’s) philosophy, his words and stuff like that, applying it to what we have going. It’s not finding a new identity, we know who we are. It’s just making sure we run the plays well and his scheme well and bring what we already have to his new scheme.”

Kanneh wants to take that defensive scheme on the road to right the wrongs of last season. The first month-plus of the schedule will be a challenge. The Ticats start the season on June 16 in Calgary, then roll north to Edmonton on June 22. They host Winnipeg on June 29 and go into a home-and-home series with Saskatchewan after that. Their July 28, Week 7 meeting with Ottawa marks their first date of the year with an Eastern opponent.

“To me, it’s real important. We want to go out there and lay a statement down. Let people know exactly who we are,” Kanneh said of his team’s start to the season.

“We have a good test in front of us. We have Edmonton and Calgary, they’re supposed to be the top-two teams in the league. We’re going to go out there and play our defence, play tough and play physical and fast and hit them as hard as possible and try to make them quit early.

“We want to put out the film for the rest of the league so they know that the Ticat defence, we’re not playing around this year. They call us the Hammer for a reason. We’ll be laying down that hammer a lot this season.”

It’s a hammer Kanneh wants to drop across the country, against eight opponents through the next 18 games and, he hopes, well into November.

“They’re all the nails,” he said. “We’re the only Hammer.”