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But Austin said if the Ti-Cats we’re spying, he would have expected a better result.

“It didn’t work out too well for us except for that play, huh?” he said. “If we were doing that, I’d need to fire the scouts.

“It’s ridiculous. I don’t police our stadium. You’re running so many things during the week and you’re going to change things come game time because of the complexion of the game that’s being played in front of you. That’s overblown a little bit, I think.”

Austin’s use of the word “absurd” was brought to Jones’ attention on Wednesday.

“You wouldn’t expect him to say anything else,” the Riders’ field boss responded. “All I’m saying is that it was a play that’s very rarely even used. Had they noticed it a little bit later (it might have been different), but they noticed it in two seconds, so somebody was watching.

“Maybe it wasn’t them. Maybe somebody that just knows them happened to give them the information. And it’s not just them. There’s other teams that come in and watch our practice, and I’ve been worried about it. This is two times now that it has been proven that somebody’s here watching our practices and letting guys know what we’re doing, so we’re going to shut down practice.”

Roughriders practices were open Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium — the last full workout before Saturday’s road game against the Calgary Stampeders — is to be closed.