Once a skeptic, 49ers' McCaffrey now embraces 'cool experience' of Melbourne game

Cam Inman, The Mercury News on Sep 7, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MELBOURNE, Australia — Christian McCaffrey has come around to all this.

Back in February, just before the NFL officially announced the San Francisco 49ers would open this season here against the Los Angeles Rams, McCaffrey frowned on such a historically long trip.

“Australia is pretty far,” McCaffrey told the Bay Area News Group on Feb. 2 at Pro Bowl practice inside the Moscone Convention Center. “I’d love to see how the schedule would work. Transparently, that might be a little too far.”

The 49ers are here now. They’ve been here since last Friday, acclimating their bodies and sleep patterns. The Rams won’t 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.

“This has been such a cool experience,” McCaffrey said before Monday’s practice. “Obviously there’s a lot of question marks when you hear you’re playing in Australia. Since we’ve been here, man, it’s been so cool.

“The people are unbelievable, the food is incredible, the coffee is great, the atmosphere … you can already feel it.”

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 — as they did in 2021.

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.

“He’s a force. He’s such a good player and has been his entire career,” McCaffrey said. “When you’re going through your scouting report, you have to know where he is, and you have to know where (No.) 95 (Myles Garrett) is.”

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’s 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).

When asked whether the NFL is tougher than Australian rules football, McCaffrey responded: “I’ve never played AFL, so I can only speak for football. I like our sport. It’s not that I don’t like AFL. You put me in a bind here.”

____