INTERVIEW: Phil Murphy - 11 September 2026

0:00Absolutely huge day. A hundred thousand people turned up at the MCG to see this game between San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams. Well, the 49ers were very, very impressive. And over there, well, over there in Melbourne is Phil Murphy. Welcome. Hey, good morning, Dr. Morning. Good afternoon. It was good morning for this show. At the MCG, hey, listen, I'm still I'm not on East Coast, US time. It is early morning back home in the United States. And those who didn't stay up to watch the game are waking up to the news that San Francisco looked the part of title contender and Melbourne looked the part of an NFL city. It was a great Friday morning here. It wasn't an amazing spectacle. I thought they did a great job. But we sort of felt like it was our mini Super Bowl here in Australia. But I thought the color of the glamour, the entertainment at all, it all hit the mark. Yeah, I mean, it's not hyperbole to say this week felt like a Super Bowl week. I'm blessed enough to have been to 11

1:00Super Bowls. In those towns, you know, on the Monday of the game, we can the Tuesday, the game, we can get a little bit quiet. And then by Wednesday Thursday, they think kind of picked up. And you have fans from all over the United States in that sense and some international fans coming in. Belman had that feel about it and the signage in the NFL shops popping up. And then the game itself, we're sitting there in our pre-game show on ESPN at like 10 o'clock this morning. And I'm looking up and I couldn't find an empty seat. And it's 10 a.m. on a Friday. And you have all these different NFL jerseys predominantly 49ers and Rams, but people who just barracks for teams all over the NFL. So this is their chance to see the NFL live. And this is why the NFL is fans as far as it this. And that was the question stateside. Why should the NFL play a game in Australia? It's because of this because he's fans have earned it. They're just setting alarms at three, four o'clock in the morning. I'll see him to see the CD games on TV. They deserve to see the product in person. And they showed out 100,000 plus at the MCG. It was awesome. Phil, we're very, very proud of Zoziza. I thought it was a lovely little tip of the hat when the referee

2:01signaled for the field goal. And he did the Australian goal on par signal of two fingers straight out in front. Yeah, I've seen some of the 49ers players say they were going to do that if they scored a touchdown. It sounds like, okay, cool. You know, like the goal and Aussie rules, like, you know, the Crow's quarter, whatever. But the referees doing it caught me off guard. The NFL used to joke. It stood for the no fun week where guys weren't allowed to celebrate. They sent you know, let their hair down a bit. But the referees having that little wrinkle, that little, that little tip of the cap at the MCG was brilliant work. And it's just, yeah, something that you and I talk about in a viral moment. But it just shows that they get it. They understand when they go into another market that not all fan bases are the same. But it's okay. It's like discovering a new flavor of ice cream. Obviously, it consumes more to a little bit differently and with a little more fervor, frankly, than most across the world. And it's why the NFL, I think, is very glad that they came here and made that heavy list to fly across the Pacific. And why I do think that several NFL clubs are going to be queuing up to be the next in line to play here. Do you know what a five foes?

3:05A five, bro? Yeah, a fly in, fly out. We do that in the rural Australia for the minds. And it doesn't work. Cost a lot of money and they don't perform well. Well, that's what the Rams did. Twenty eight years before kickoff, they flew in and now they're flowing out. They stunk enough fuel. They didn't treat it senselessly. And the nine is worth that butt shakes. Yeah, it's not, it's not second guessing. If you're first guessing, I was on Fox hoodie earlier this week and they asked me who's got to travel right. And I said reflexively, it was then Francisco. I've made this trip a handful of times and never once have I felt like myself until I don't know day three. Yes. And I don't care what these scientists are saying. The Rams said they flew out. Those scientists started trying to tackle George Dittel. They're not trying to prevent being tackled by a Fred Warner. And not only did the 49ers get the sleep right, they got the marketing right. They were out here holding flag football, clinics and eight equipped schools and hanging in the community and finding their local baristas.

4:05Every neutral fan who was here was won over by the 49ers. This was meant to be a Rams home game. And when the Rams trotted onto the field, it was to a course of booze. It felt like we were in Northern California in the Bay Area. So absolutely. I mean, I said from the start, I didn't understand the Rams logic. And even that when they said, oh, we're going to stay in West Coast time. They had a walk through yesterday at Marvel Stadium at 5 p.m. That's midnight in L.A. I've never seen an NFL team have a walk through at midnight. So they violated their own protocol and they looked flat in this game and they got flattened by a division rival. Yeah. Well, jet lag kicks in. They say the first 12 hours after you arrive. And Stefan, he's a star quarterback. No question about that. He looked like he was drunk. That's our jet lag. He was and and perdi was just superb. Phil. Yeah, pretty. I think had maybe one bad throw. Otherwise, yeah, I mean, he settled in quite nicely. And listen, he played a great, a great defense.

5:05But yeah, I don't want to say it was a flawless performance by San Francisco. Week one's always a little funky because he haven't settled in for a bit yet. But I think part of San Francisco getting here a week early, I don't want to be polyenish about it. But I think there's some merit to it is that they did have a little bit of camaraderie. They were away from families. They were the team was able to go out the team meals and have a little bit of extra time together. So it wasn't just that jet lag of the Rams, but some of the tight-knit nature of the 49ers. And San Francisco's a team, they won 12 games in a playoffs game a year ago. They were, I don't know what I understand why they've been kind of an afterthought in some of these NFL previews. But this is a very realistic contender. It wouldn't surprise me at all. If you and I were having a chat on Super Bowl Week and San Francisco's involvement again. Okay. Well, that'd be good, Phil. Sorry, you tell them either Wags didn't come. You know what a Wags? Yes, no, they did. I saw this kid all I saw this McCapry. I saw this sick. They were here, but the teams, the teams certainly had a lot of like team bonding time and practice time

6:06away from that. But yeah, I mean, the plus ones were present. Yeah. Phil, the the end of the tournament, they had a little bit of from the US with the Jonas Brothers. They had Dara and Cody Simpson, Australian Olympic swimmer, sing our national anthem. They had paperplanes at half-time. That sort of stuff was really well accepted and probably something that maybe we adopt ourselves here. Did you think they got all of that right? Absolutely. Yeah. I saw some of the pre-week plans that they were going to do in the flyover and all that. And really the question how they got that right is how does the arena respond, right? I mean, I could sit here and tell you a week ago, like, oh, this is going to be a cool plan. But if you know, 100,000 don't respond to it, then yeah, they didn't get it right. No, I mean, the game actually wasn't competitive. It was it was a 27 to 7 final. It was pretty lopsided and not a lot of intrigue in the final moment. But the songs they were queuing up, you know, at three-fourters time, sweet Caroline, 100,000 people were singing that song and they did really, really well with the presentation of it.

7:11You know, I know it was a multiple faceted effort from the MCG and the MCC and the NFL and the Victorian tourism board and all that. It's a complicated thing. It can turn into a corporate mess. They got it absolutely bang on right. And they deserve a standing ovation and that's why I think sooner rather than later as the NFL goes back and they have all the metrics and talks to the team. The question isn't going to be when do we need to go back to Australia, but when and we come back to Australia. Oh, great stuff. We're welcome. Thanks for, well, feel pressure at your time. Hi boys, enjoy the rest of that. We'll do indeed. It was the 49ers over the Rams, 27 to 7, a big victory, 100,000 and 21 people attended at the MCG.