Courtesy Vancouver Province:

Geroy Simon may be good at helping arrange player meetings, but he’ll get failing grades as a lobbyist, which is why the B.C. Lions may perform better Friday.

However, it will have to be without their all-star slotback, who will be on the sidelines against the Edmonton Eskimos at B.C. Place Stadium.

Simon tried to convince Wally Buono that his injured hamstring is good enough to allow him to play, but the coach of the CFL team said Tuesday he’ll listen to his medical staff and rest him again heading into a bye week.

“We don’t go on what the player tells us, never have and never will,” Buono said.

“At this point, there’s a higher degree of risk [if he plays] than we’re willing to take.”

But Simon may have played a role in Friday’s outcome simply by working with Tyrone Williams to organize the players-only meeting that took place after practice Monday.

Williams initially hatched the idea of a meeting Saturday following the Lions’ 35-24 loss in Edmonton on Thursday, having recognized the occasional lack of focus on a club continually acknowledged by both experts and themselves to have the most talent in the league.

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