{"id":891586,"date":"2026-09-11T09:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T09:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891586\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T09:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T09:24:12","slug":"49ers-coach-kyle-shanahan-cool-on-nfl-return-to-australia-i-just-dont-like-to-travel-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891586\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers coach Kyle Shanahan cool on NFL return to Australia: \u2018I just don\u2019t like to travel\u2019 | NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victorious San Francisco 49ers<\/a> head coach Kyle Shanahan said he loves Australia, the \u201cgladiator-ish\u201d MCG and its surface, the local hospitality and the country\u2019s NFL fans, even if he may not want to play another game so far away from home.<\/p>\n

After the 49ers\u2019 27-7 victory over the LA Rams<\/a> 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\u2019s goldfish bowl routine of hotel-to-practice-to-hotel would allow.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Shanahan paused, then clarified. \u201cTo play?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pause, the awkwardness growing by the second. Then, a joke to relieve the tension. \u201cI\u2019d like 17 home games in San Francisco,\u201d he said with a wide smile. Finally, 10 seconds after the question was asked, he got to the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing against Australia, I just don\u2019t like to travel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the debate the NFL\u2019s international expansion<\/a> hinges on, amplified by the remoteness of Australia.<\/p>\n

Shanahan has not exactly been on board with the league\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Not even Friday\u2019s victory changed his tune, even if he said he understands the reasons why they are here. He described the sport as \u201cawesome\u201d and added the whole world should know about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is hesitant to return to Australia with his team for another NFL game. Photograph: Scott Barbour\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI get why we want to spread it around and go places, and I was hoping to get a bye week after it \u2013 we don\u2019t \u2013 we\u2019ve got a few extra days, though, so I think we\u2019ll be able to recover from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys know I wasn\u2019t excited at first, but that\u2019s 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\u2019s been an awesome experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoved getting the win today, and it\u2019s time to enjoy this flight and get back and get ready for week two.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Rams head coach Sean McVay would not blame the team\u2019s travel plan for the defeat, but accepted he would be reviewing why his team\u2019s performance did not meet expectations.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t believe that\u2019s why we didn\u2019t play well enough, I really don\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy in hindsight to say it was a miss. Those are responsibilities that I\u2019ll take.\u201d<\/p>\n

LA Rams head coach Sean McVay looks to turn around the NFL game against the San Francisco 49ers at the MCG. Photograph: Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

With one more game in Melbourne locked in and the mutual option for another as part of the Victorian government\u2019s four-year deal, the burden or benefits of travelling on the 15-hour flight will be a debate that does not go away.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, I think at the right time of the year and everything,\u201d quarterback Brock Purdy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, like once we\u2019re in season and we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight end George Kittle said he leaves Australia with only positive experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victorious San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he loves Australia, the \u201cgladiator-ish\u201d MCG and its surface,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-891586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}