Sean Rea thriving in Wanderers' new free-flowing attacking setup

When you watch this year's Halifax Wanderers play up close, you might be surprised to hear the players communicating as much in French as they do in English.

However, with nine Québécois players and three born in France, this squad is certainly the most apt of the current Canadian Premier League clubs to play a game in Québec City — which the Wanderers will do in the CPL On Tour match against York United on May 31.

One of the central figures of that Halifax side when they do so will be Sean Rea. The 23-year-old Montréal native has been critical to the Wanderers' attacking success to start 2025, and he's loving his role with the club now that he's fully acclimated to the squad and to head coach Patrice Gheisar's system.

Rea arrived in Halifax at the beginning of August last season, and though he showed his ability in flashes, he had difficulty reaching the full height of his potential. He came back to the CPL as a familiar face, having spent two outstanding seasons in Winnipeg on loan with Valour FC (winning the CPL's Best U-21 Canadian Player award in 2022) before returning to his parent club CF Montréal to play a year at the MLS level.

When things didn't work out for Rea in Montréal — nor in Spain during a short sting at CD Castellón — he sought a return to the CPL, and Halifax was the ideal landing spot.

Coming into the 2025 campaign with a full Wanderers preseason under his belt, Rea has blossomed as one of several creative engines in Gheisar's team this year. He is tied for fourth in the CPL in chances created with 12, and has been among the league's top attacking players when it comes to winning possession (30 times so far). He has provided a litany of dangerous set-piece deliveries, and he has built exceptional chemistry with the rest of the Wanderers' creative players, like Giorgio Probo, Ryan Telfer, Wesley Timoteo and Lorenzo Callegari.

Halifax have scored 10 goals this year, and they're third in the CPL in expected goals and chances created (and joint-first in chances from set-pieces). Last year, despite leading the league in xG, they scored just 37 goals (4th in the league) and missed the playoffs. This season, they've been a bit more selective with creating their chances, and a bit more clinical finishing them.

"I'm really happy with the progress we've made compared to the last three months of last season when I joined," Rea told CanPL.ca. "We've shown a lot of growth, especially on the road, and I think where we are in the table, we're happy."

A lot of that, he added, is down to Gheisar trusting his attackers and midfielders, giving them full license to roam wherever they wish around the opposition half.

"It's amazing, especially for a player like myself, where creativity is probably one of my biggest fortés, being able to move where I want, going into the space," Rea said. "Patrice literally lets us free roam in the front; I want to interchange with Probo or Wesley or Telfer, we can do that. I think that causes a lot of problems for the other teams, because they don't always know how to defend that."

Rea added that he feels like a more well-rounded player now in Halifax, compared to the explosive winger he was at Valour. With the Wanderers being a team that keeps the ball much more than those 2021-22 Valour sides, Rea finds himself digging more into his arsenal of creative tricks.

Now that he's free to go searching for the ball in areas all across the pitch, Rea pops up in almost every attacking sequence for Halifax. The below chart chronicles all of his attacking carries — that is, any instance where he moved five metres or more with the ball. Evidently, he spends the majority of his time out on the left, but has no problem looking for opportunities in the middle or on the opposite side.

As mentioned, though, familiarity is a major factor in the Wanderers' current success as well. Rea pointed out that a handful of his teammates grew up with him in the CF Montréal academy. The likes of Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, Kareem Sow, Wesley Timoteo and Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé were in the club's system at similar times, while Alessandro Biello and Jefferson Alphonse are also products of the MLS side's academy.

So, Rea explained that it's often easier for the Wanderers on the pitch to speak French to one another, particularly with French-born players Lorenzo Callegari, Yohan Baï and Jason Bahamboula also in the mix.

"I feel like you can even tell on the field that we look comfortable together," Rea said. "We know how to play with each other — I know what Wesley wants, he knows what I want; it's easy to play with guys you know."

After a top-of-the-table battle at home this weekend against Atlético Ottawa, the Wanderers' attention will turn to their much-anticipated CPL On Tour clash in Québec City against York United.

Rea, like most of his teammates, is tremendously excited for that game, where he and many of the Wanderers from La belle province will have a number of friends and family in attendance.

"Anytime we're near home, where your family could come, your friends could come — I heard there's supposed to be a lot of people coming to this game — and just bringing awareness to soccer in Québec, because there's a lot of talent," he said. "A lot of great players are from Québec and play out of province, and just being able to play in our home province is great, especially with the amount of talent."

The Wanderers midfielder said it's almost like when they play in Ottawa, which is roughly the same distance as Québec City is from Montreal, where most of Halifax's Québécois players are from — but even more exciting, considering it'll be a CPL first to play in a new city, and in such a heavily Francophone environment.

As away games go, the match in Québec City won't feel too far from home for the Wanderers, and not just because of the support their Québécois players might receive from friends, family, and local supporters. The club is expected a heavy contingent of fans in blue to make the 10-hour road trip from Nova Scotia, many of them arriving together on a team-organized bus.

Halifax have already shown this year that they're overcoming their road demons from previous years. They have 10 points from their four away matches so far this season, which already outstrips the six they picked up from all 14 games they played in hostile territory last season.

With three more valuable away points on the line in Québec, the Wanderers will be going all-out to continue their campaign for silverware this year — hoping they can pick up a few new fans in the process.

The Halifax Wanderers will play York United in the 2025 CPL On Tour match at Stade TELUS-Université Laval in Québec City on Saturday, May 31 (7 p.m. ET/8 p.m. AT). Tickets are available here, and the match will be broadcast live on OneSoccer.