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That was the word this week from Solly Mastro, ye rotund coach of the NDG Junior Maple Leafs.

With only four or five holdovers from the 1953 edition of the club back, the Mastro man has been confronted with a rebuilding job of formidable proportions. But he's not too worried about his line.

"We have a lot of big fellows out," says Solly, "the solid type of citizen who aren't likely to get pushed around. Right now it looks as though the line is going to be the club's strongest feature."

Johnny Taylor, one time star with the Montreal Alouettes, has joined the club as assistant coach. The other assistant mentor is Bill Smith. That will be the coaching triumvirate for the season.

Roy Chesley, the former West Hill pilot, who is now mentoring Verdun's entry in the senior section of the Quebec Rugby Football Union, has grabbed some of the NDG Juniors. Among those who have inked playing forms with the Verdunites are Sonny Stone, the Lower Canada College grad who was so impressive with the Leafs last season, and Bob Walklate.

Newcomers who have caught the coaches' eye are Richie Wilson, who was with St. Aloysius last year, and Bill Buckburrough, a West Hill graduate.

Among the players back from last year are Bill Enright, Gordie Church and Grant "Oscar" Peterson, who is to date the only snap on the club.

Just when the Leafs will swing into action is not yet known as the Junior schedule has not been released. Drawing it up is the chore of Gus MacFarlane and that worthy citizen of Verdun is currently embroiled in preparing the Pats for their provincial championship series with the winners of the Snowdon Fastball League.

Major Gordon Robinson is back as president of the club. Others on the executive include City Councillor Ed Asselin and Charlie Brown.

Jack McKenna and Charlie Johnson, two of the hardest workers on the Leafs' behind-the-scenes crew, are both on holiday and Frank Bowers is ill, all of which is putting an extra load on the willing shoulders of Coach Mastro and President Robinson.

The NDG Junior Maple Leafs pry the lid off the 1954 Junior Quebec Rugby Football Union season this Saturday when they play host to the Lakeshore Junior Flyers. The NDGer's, piloted again this season by the rotund Solly Mastro, open hostilities at Trenholme Park at 1:30 o'clock.

The Leafs, who have been unsuccessful as far as landing a championship is concerned for the last two campaigns, are hopeful that this season they'll be able to get back on the pennant trail.

Mastro has had three assistants to help him whip the melange of veterans and rookies into what those who have been following the Leafs' drills regularly claim is "a pretty fair team." Johnny Taylor, the onetime Alouette end, Bill Smith and Len Jones are the threesome who are coaching the outfit under the general supervision of Mastro. Solly has been head coach of the club since it was reorganized after the war and has a truly enviable record.

Veteran linemen include Spehar, Rod McEwan, Gord Church, Bill Enright, and Grant "Oscar" Peterson, the sturdily built centre who was one of the mainstays of the Unity Boys Club basketball aggregation which went all the way to the intermediate city championship last winter.

The Maple Leafs have picked up a pair of quarterbacks who were with other Junior squads. Ron Wilson was with St. Aloysius while Dennis Jones was with Lakeshore last year.

The only other backfielder who is new to the club is Mike ???????? from the Montreal Police Juveniles.

The NDG Junior Maple Leafs will hit the road this weekend in quest of their second straight win of the young grid campaign. Gus McFarlane's rather peculiar schedule has the locals journeying out to Valois for another game with the Lakeshore Little Flyers.

The Leafs aren't bellyaching about the assignment. They handed the Lakeshore team a 17-6 setback at Trenholme Park last Saturday and feel they can come up with a repeat.

Matter of fact, if I may be permitted a cliche as easily in the performance this weekend. Head coach Johnny Taylor has been warning the locals about overconfidence all week. Rugged John, one of the Alouettes "Eager Beavers", has taken over the Head Coaching duties from Solly Mastro. Solly, another former Big Four type, has found that the pressures of his service station........

Bouncing back from a defeat at the hands of the surprising Lakeshore Little Flyers, Ewart Jones' power-packed Verdun Sham-Cats hung a 19-0 calcimine job on the NDG Junior Maple Leafs at Trenholme Park last Saturday afternoon.

The Verdunites, paced by the racing feet of Ed Simms, outplayed the Leafs throughout the contest.

The Tabbies opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark of the ball game when Zeminickis crashed into paydirt from 10 yards out on an off tackle play. A passing play, one of the visitors' most potent weapons all afternoon, set up the score. Quarterback Bernie Wong, the onetime D'Arcy McGee standout, heaved to Ed Simms. Simms lateralled to Zemnickis and good old Zem barelled his way to the Leaf 10.

A Wong to Bob Deams pass was good for the extra point and the visitors were ahead 6-0. They never looked back.

In the second stanza Wong flipped a 20-yarder from the NDG 25 to Bill Johnson. Johnson pulled in the leather, galloped the remaining five yards for the second TD of the afternoon. Wong passed to Johnson for the convert to make the score 12-0.

At the eight minute mark of the quarter, Gordie Cowie kicked a single to the NDG deadline to make the half-time count 13-0.

The third quarter, a scoreless affair, was featured by some sensational running on the part of the Verdunites' Mr. Simms, a standout throughout the afternoon.

In the final quarter Alfie Slowinski went around the end 20 yards for a five-pointer to make the score 18-0. Simms set up the play with a 45-yard gallop from his own 10 yard stripe. He appeared to be going all the way until pushed out of bounds by Brandstetter. Simms then carried the ball to the 30, and Cowie another 10 to the 20. Slowinski took it from there.

Dick Lucas, Grant Peterson and quarterback Dennie Jones played their heart out for the Leafs. Fumbles proved costly to the NDG'ers all afternoon.

Coach Johnny Taylor's NDG Junior Maple Leafs face their most crucial clash of the 1954 grid campaign this Saturday afternoon when they travel out to Valois to do battle with the Lakeshore. The Little Flyers came up with a pair of victories over the long Thanksgiving Day weekend while the NDG'ers were dropping a pair of games to force a two-way deadlock for second place and the right to meet the Verdun Sham-Cats for the league and provincial championship.

This is a game the Leafs must win. A tie won't suffice as the Little Flyers, after that 63-0 pasting which they handed a hapless Point St. Charles aggregation last Saturday afternoon, have a better points record than the locals.

The Leafs got themselves into their present predicament by dropping a 19-0 decision to the powerladen Verdun Sham-Cats on Saturday at Trenholme Park and followed that up by losing to Lakeshore 2-1 on the same gridiron on Thanksgiving Day.

Defeat in the turkey tilt came in the last minute of the ball game. There were exactly 45 seconds left to play when disaster struck the Leafs. At the time the Leafs were doing a yeoman job of protecting their pencil-thin one -point lead.

It was third down on the NDG'ers 10-yard line. Gordie Church belted a 40-yard hoof that seemed to lift the locals out of danger. But the play was called back and the Leafs penalized five yards because one of the locals had directed some abusive language at one of the officials.

This time a bad snap got away from the usually reliable Grant Peterson. Church recovered the ball behind the goal line and was promptly smothered by a horde of Lakeshore larrigans. Lorne Linton was the first man in on the tackle.