{"id":8672,"date":"2026-09-08T04:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8672"},"modified":"2026-09-08T04:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:37:06","slug":"once-a-skeptic-49ers-mccaffrey-now-embraces-cool-experience-of-melbourne-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8672","title":{"rendered":"Once a skeptic, 49ers’ McCaffrey now embraces ‘cool experience’ of Melbourne game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MELBOURNE, Australia \u2013 Christian McCaffrey has come around to all this.<\/p>\n

Back in February, just before the NFL officially announced the 49ers would open this season here against the Los Angeles Rams, McCaffrey frowned on such a historically long trip.<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants\u2019 Whitcomb delivers 11th-inning walk-off single to defeat Cardinals<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is pretty far,\u201d McCaffrey told the Bay Area News Group on Feb. 2 at Pro Bowl practice inside the Moscone Convention Center. \u201cI\u2019d love to see how the schedule would work. Transparently, that might be a little too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers are here now. They\u2019ve been here since last Friday, acclimating their bodies and sleep patterns. The Rams won\u2019t arrive until Thursday morning, followed by a brief practice, then the season kicks off at 10:35 a.m. AUST (5:30 p.m. PT) on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been such a cool experience,\u201d McCaffrey said before Monday\u2019s practice. \u201cObviously there\u2019s a lot of question marks when you hear you\u2019re playing in Australia. Since we\u2019ve been here, man, it\u2019s been so cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people are unbelievable, the food is incredible, the coffee is great, the atmosphere \u2026 you can already feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to that aura will be 100,000 fans in a famed stadium watching storied rivals and Super Bowl contenders. The Rams are favored to win both this game and then a Super Bowl in their home stadium \u2014 as they did in 2021.<\/p>\n

Read more Two people stabbed Sunday night in Sunnyvale<\/a><\/p>\n

Defensive tackle Aaron Donald unretired to join that pursuit, and although the Rams are being coy about whether he plays here in this opener, the 49ers and McCaffrey are expecting him.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a force. He\u2019s such a good player and has been his entire career,\u201d McCaffrey said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re going through your scouting report, you have to know where he is, and you have to know where (No.) 95 (Myles Garrett) is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald last played in the 2023 season, which ended with the Rams losing in the wild-card round at Detroit while the 49ers went on to an overtime loss in the Super Bowl against Kansas City. McCaffrey was the NFL\u2019s rushing champion that season, and now he is coming off NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors (and an NFL-high 413 touches with 1,202 rushing yards and 924 receiving yards).<\/p>\n

When asked whether the NFL is tougher than Australian rules football, McCaffrey responded: \u201cI\u2019ve never played AFL, so I can only speak for football. I like our sport. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like AFL. You put me in a bind here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Vote now: Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is so far enjoying his trip Down Under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nOnce a skeptic, 49ers’ McCaffrey now embraces ‘cool experience’ of Melbourne game - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8672\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Once a skeptic, 49ers’ McCaffrey now embraces ‘cool experience’ of Melbourne game - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is so far enjoying his trip Down Under\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8672\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-08T04:37:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Once a skeptic, 49ers’ McCaffrey now embraces ‘cool experience’ of Melbourne game\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-08T04:37:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672\"},\"wordCount\":454,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/8ede309b284159fc03b667d1f370064d-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8672\",\"name\":\"Once a skeptic, 49ers’ McCaffrey now embraces ‘cool experience’ of Melbourne game - 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