The president of the Los Angeles Rams NFL franchise has moved to justify comments made last week by its head coach Sean McVay.
In an interview with US sports site The Sporting Tribune, Kevin Demoff assured fans on both sides of the Pacific that the Rams remain absolutely committed to Australia where it is one of four NFL sides to hold global marketing rights.
Demoff denied Sean McVay’s comments following the Rams’ 27-7 Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne suggested the franchise wanted to turn its back on Australia, and were simply the result of frustration at losing.
“I think it’s unfair to take Sean’s comments and extrapolate them beyond what happened in those 60 minutes (of the match),” Demoff said.
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“(It was) frustration about the way we played, not frustration about international games, not frustration about Australia,” he explained of the disastrous in-and-out trip to Melbourne.
“It’s a great experience and there was a lot of positives.
“But that 60 minutes that day was not our best day… and I would expect nothing less from Sean in terms of his frustration.”
Demoff also hit back at criticism of the Rams not playing their part in helping to promote the historic NFL match, despite their opponents the 49ers arriving in Melbourne a full seven days earlier.
“I think much was made of the storyline of the team not being there, which is very different than the organisation not being there,” Demoff said.
“I understand we missed an opportunity to play our best, to be engaged that week and that’s something that we’ll grapple with as an organisation.”