Victorious San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he loves Australia, the “gladiator-ish” MCG and its surface, the local hospitality and the country’s NFL fans, even if he may not want to play another game so far away from home.
After the 49ers’ 27-7 victory over the LA Rams in the first NFL match in Australia, the 46-year-old revealed he wants to come back to holiday and see more of the country than this week’s goldfish bowl routine of hotel-to-practice-to-hotel would allow.
But in the media conference after winning, the follow-up question was more pointed. Would he want to come back, not to visit, but to play?
Shanahan paused, then clarified. “To play?”
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Another pause, the awkwardness growing by the second. Then, a joke to relieve the tension. “I’d like 17 home games in San Francisco,” he said with a wide smile. Finally, 10 seconds after the question was asked, he got to the point.
“Nothing against Australia, I just don’t like to travel,” he said.
It’s the debate the NFL’s international expansion hinges on, amplified by the remoteness of Australia.
Shanahan has not exactly been on board with the league’s decision to send his 49ers on this trans-Pacific mission for the first of their 17 matches in a gruelling season, and said in March there was no benefit for his team for the trip.
Not even Friday’s victory changed his tune, even if he said he understands the reasons why they are here. He described the sport as “awesome” and added the whole world should know about it.
“I get why we want to spread it around and go places, and I was hoping to get a bye week after it – we don’t – we’ve got a few extra days, though, so I think we’ll be able to recover from it,” he said.
“You guys know I wasn’t excited at first, but that’s just because you only think about your team. But after going through this all, knowing we were coming down here and getting over that, it’s been an awesome experience.
“Loved getting the win today, and it’s time to enjoy this flight and get back and get ready for week two.”
The 49ers have been here for a week, allowing them to overcome jet lag and do much of the pre-match promotion for a match tagged as a Rams home game. Their opponents only flew in yesterday, hoping to escape back to the United States before their body clocks adjust.
Rams head coach Sean McVay would not blame the team’s travel plan for the defeat, but accepted he would be reviewing why his team’s performance did not meet expectations.
“I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough, I really don’t,” he said. “It’s easy in hindsight to say it was a miss. Those are responsibilities that I’ll take.”
With one more game in Melbourne locked in and the mutual option for another as part of the Victorian government’s four-year deal, the burden or benefits of travelling on the 15-hour flight will be a debate that does not go away.
The 49ers players were also positive about Australia. They went further than Shanahan in saying they did want to come back to play, even if it was not without qualification.
“Yeah, I mean, I think at the right time of the year and everything,” quarterback Brock Purdy said.
“It was nice that this was the first game of the year here for us, coming off of camp and coming out here a week early and being able to play and stuff.
“Obviously, like once we’re in season and we’re going through the grind of it, travel becomes a thing, but our overall experience here was amazing, and would love to be able to come back and play in front of the people here in Australia.”
Tight end George Kittle said he leaves Australia with only positive experiences.
“We got to immerse ourselves in Melbourne, we were taken great care of: great hotel, the staff was awesome, we had so much fun. Drinking coffee and just kind of hanging out for the whole week, it was awesome.”
