WINNIPEG –

Nicole Collaros starts the Zoom chat, apologizing that husband Zach might be joining late.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback tries to get his oldest daughter to sleep, but Sierra doesn’t like the game.

“This is our life,” Nicole said with a laugh during the team’s final week off. “We are not sleeping and it seems to be getting worse. It’s supposed to be getting better, but it’s getting worse.

“Three (kids) changed the game. Two, we were good. And then three, it’s like they all end up in bed with us at some point. It’s like playing musical beds. It’s wild.”

Reluctant, sleeping Sierra is four and a half years old. Daughter Capri turns three this month and son Dean is seven months old.

It’s a busy household, similar to many families, but with the added intensity of a long six-month stretch as Zach focuses on helping the Blue Bombers reach their fifth straight Gray Cup.

It was not a typical season for the CFL team.

The Bombers started 0–4, went 2–6, won eight in a row and then lost to the Toronto Argonauts in a game that would have clinched first place in the West Division. They held first place in the final game of the regular season by just a field goal as time expired for a 28-27 victory over the Montreal Alouettes.

Winnipeg now hosts the division final against the rival Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the BC Gray Cup on November 17.

Despite such a roller-coaster season, Nicole said Zach remained steadfast and showed no added stress at home.

Her No. 1 concern after a game is his health.

“I’ll say, ‘Are you hurt?’ He’ll say, ‘No,’ or ‘I’m just a little upset,'” she said.

“(Sometimes) it’s hard for him to get out of bed the next morning. It’s very normal. It sounds so crazy. It’s not normal, but it’s normal in football life.”

She will gauge how she feels mentally after a loss by saying it was a “tough” one and asking if she’s okay. He will reply that he will be fine and then go back to their routine.

“We order McDonald’s after every home game, a late night trick, whatever you want to call it,” she said with a smile. “We generally listen to music and go to sleep.

“This is our down time after the game, we rarely talk about the game.”

The players’ wives and girlfriends often reunite and talked about the team’s early struggles. They asked each other how their partners were after a loss. The consensus was in a “bad mood.”

“But now, it’s a completely different ending and we’re going to the West final,” Nicole said.

“I think I can also speak for some of the wives. I knew they were going to turn things around. Whatever it takes, they’re there for each other.”

Becoming a father has made a difference in how Zach deals with the inevitable ups and downs of sports.

“We’re laughing because I said, ‘If this was a game in 2015, 2016, you would have lost it. You would have been very angry or upset for a few days,” Nicole said. “I really think having kids and a family has changed the way he sees things.”

Nicole was a kindergarten teacher in Toronto when they met in 2015 while he was playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They married in February 2019, a year that also featured him trading from Saskatchewan to Toronto and then to Winnipeg in October.

Although he is often at the ballpark on training days for up to 12 hours, he is home for dinner and family time before his bedtime ritual. A few hours follow, then a few hours in his office watching more movies.

Sometimes she will stop by the stadium with the kids to pass the time between practice and meetings.

Zach tries to watch the girls’ soccer and basketball games, as well as dance and gymnastics classes. On team days off — he still goes to the stadium for a practice — they have family outings.

He has time for a phone call the day after watching the girls play soccer.

“At the beginning of the season, (Sierra) was afraid to go out on the field when it was actually live action,” he said.

“Slowly, she got better and better. He ran today and said to his mother, “Mommy, I did it, I didn’t cry.”

It’s those family moments he doesn’t want to be overshadowed by work, admitting there was “concern” during the team’s early skid.

“You try not to let doubt creep in, but that’s human nature,” he said. “When things don’t go your way, you start to wonder if the process is fair?

“But you also have to build on the foundation of the things that got you where you are. Not just me, but the team in general.”

Nicole is a “great sound booth” and understands what it takes for him to perform at his best.

“During the week, my wife carries most of our family life, she’s really the captain, so to speak, at home,” Zach said.

“This might be a cliché or something, but when I walk in the door at five or six or whatever, any worry or stress I had at work goes away.

“I open the door and my daughters, every day, say, ‘Daddy!’ and they run to the door. And then you go into dad mode ΓǪ you do your job, but once you get home, the second job starts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 6, 2024.