49ers Down Under: ABC7 Eyewitness News in Melbourne for Niner's season opener against Rams
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The San Francisco 49ers are 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 has arrived in Melbourne and will have live reports in the lead-up to the season opener and the latest on how 49ers fans are enjoying everything Australia has to offer.
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The Niners arrived in Melbourne Friday morning, held a light practice on Saturday, took 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.
"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."
Australia natives show off kangaroos and koalas as we approach 49ers-Rams game
Kangaroos, dingoes, wallabies, and of course koalas. All found in Australia and all found at Moonlit Sanctuary just outside of Melbourne.
Kangaroos, dingoes, wallabies, and of course koalas. All found in Australia and all found at Moonlit Sanctuary just outside of Melbourne.
"We flew in from California and when we think of Australia, we think of kangaroos and we think of koalas. What is it that has put them front and center that people love about these animals?" asked ABC 7's J.R. Stone.
"They are an iconic animal. They are only found in Australia, and look at them. They look cute and cuddly. They're cute, cuddly and look at those fluffy ears," said koala keeper Faye Hodgkinson.
Koalas are her specialty, and she knows all about Moe the koala.
"Moe's okay with this?" asked Stone as he petted the koala.
"Yes absolutely!"
The beauty of the koala is hard to describe, magnificent to say the least.
These animals we came across here might look like wild dogs, but they're not, and don't say that because it can be taken as a sign of disrespect, they're dingoes.
"It's important to teach people that dingoes are not a dog, they are a..." said Gemma Goodland of Moonlit Sanctuary. She stopped talking as the dingo named Flynt started licking Stone's face.
There are thousands of dingoes in the state of Victoria, Australia but they are tough.
"They'll eat all kinds of things. Kangaroo, wallaby, emu, small bats," said Goodland.
Luckily the dingoes are kept far away from these kangaroos, one of whom you can see has a 'joey.' That's what they call it when a baby is in the pouch.
"It's pretty special being in here and feeding them in light of all the social media videos that I see because I get to the assumption that all they do is fight," said Stone.
"Nope it's not, and it is the male. So the male, the alpha male will protect his hierarchy, so it is his group the mob of kangaroos, they have a social structure," said Claudia Schaumann who is a mammal keeper.
"When in Australia they said find yourself a wallaby, find yourself a kangaroo, and find yourself a koala. I think we did just that," said Stone.
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The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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