NFL-49ers coach Shanahan feels like he is in the future before landmark Australia game

MELBOURNE, Sept 7 : San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is not entirely sure what day it is after the long-haul trip to Australia but says his team is fired up for their NFL season-opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

The 49ers and Rams will play the first NFL regular-season game in Australia on Friday at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground as part of a record nine-game schedule of international matches.

The 49ers arrived a week before kick-off to acclimatise but the time zone difference was still proving a challenge for Shanahan in his first press conference in Australia on Monday.

"We're a little confused with when I look at my clock and it says the time, and then I try to see my family's time, and it says the time, but it says yesterday," Shanahan said at the team's training base at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

"I don't get how that's possible. So I feel like I'm in the future.

"Then also when we play on our Friday, which I think is a Thursday in the U.S., we're such creatures of habit.

"So I call today Tuesday. No, wait, sorry, I call today Wednesday, which is the first day we put in the game plan," he added.

"But I think it's Monday. However, though it's Sunday in the present, so like I'm going to mess that up all week if you guys ask me."

The 49ers saw their 2025 season end with a stinging 41-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional playoff.

Shanahan said it was initially hard to adjust to the idea of a season-opener in Australia but the team were now excited after being on the ground.

"We love being the only game on, as opposed to being on a Sunday where there's a lot of games playing, and it's really cool to be out here. And I think our guys are pretty jacked now," he said.

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