49ers Down Under: ABC7 Eyewitness News heads to Melbourne for Niner's season opener against Rams
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco 49ers are heading Down Under to open their NFL season against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, and ABC7 Eyewitness News will have complete coverage from Australia and the Bay Area.
ABC7's J.R. Stone will have live reports from Melbourne in the lead-up to the season opener and the latest on how 49ers fans are enjoying everything Australia has to offer.
The Niners will leave Wednesday night from California, arrive in Melbourne Friday morning, and then take time to adjust to the new time zone. They will hold a light practice on Saturday, take Sunday off and then have a normal stretch of three practices on Monday through Wednesday before playing the opener on Friday morning.
They will leave right after the game and are expected to land back in the Bay Area on Friday afternoon. They then will be able to take the weekend off before preparing for the Week 2 game against Miami on Sept. 20.
"It's a big adjustment on the body," coach Kyle Shanahan said. "So, the recommendation for everybody has been to tell us when to go, and it's made a lot of sense. I know how our players feel also. I was a little bit on the fence. Science wasn't and what I was reported on and our players weren't at all. So that helped me get off the fence."
The Rams consulted with their own scientists and came up with the opposite approach. They will do most of their practice at home and aren't expected to arrive in Australia until about 24 hours before the game, hoping the short stay leads to no jet lag.
The better option might not be known until after the game.
The approach by the Niners has made the past few days a whirlwind. The players got the weekend off after playing the final exhibition game on Thursday night in Las Vegas and resumed practice on Monday - the day after the roster was reduced to 53 players.
The front office had to make those cuts, put together a practice squad and figure out which players would be healthy for Week 1 to make sure they had the correct roster in place before departing.
"There's a lot behind the scenes," general manager John Lynch said. "Our logistics folks, our folks that work in the cafe, have just gone to tremendous lengths, our health and performance team, to make sure that we're giving our players the best opportunity to feel right when they play down there in Australia. Everything from getting visas, which much more complicated than I ever knew, and they've been outstanding. ... Hats off to those guys for pulling off a monumental task, and it's not done yet."
Lynch said he had to make sure all the practice squad players he wanted to sign had passports with one needing his parents to send it overnight. It was an even bigger scramble for offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson, who was acquired in a trade from Houston on Sunday.
"They were like, hey, do you have a passport? We're leaving for Australia in three days," he said. "I was like, 'Whoa!' It's obviously a quick turnaround getting here a couple hours after I found out and now getting ready for Australia."
But in all, the players are welcoming the challenge and opportunity. Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said he'd travel 30 hours if needed to play in an NFL game and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling has a must-see item on his to-do list before making his debut.
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"I kind of want to see a kangaroo, just because," he said. "To see how big they are."
Preparing for Aaron Donald
The opener against the Rams will have an additional challenge after the Rams brought Aaron Donald out of retirement to join Myles Garrett on one of the fiercest defensive lines in the game.
Donald is a three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year but was out of football the past two seasons. His 12 1/2 career sacks against the 49ers in the regular season and playoffs are tied with Kevin Greene for the most ever.
"They got better, certainly, with him deciding to come out of retirement," Lynch said. "Now, there's time away. But I know that guy trains like a madman. I ran into him in a hotel somewhere a while back and we had some fun chatter back and forth. Never thought he'd do it. But he's doing it and so we better get ready for it."
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If you are heading to Melbourne to watch the 49ers, share your experience with ABC7 Eyewitness News!
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
