A tall
three-quarter back, he played club football in
Toowoomba, representing Queensland ten times and also gaining selection for the
Australian test team. In 1969, McDonald moved south, playing in the
New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership with the
Manly-Warringah club. After playing for his adopted state, he toured New Zealand as Australian vice-captain. He went on to captain Manly from the flank in the club's grand final loss to
South Sydney in the
1970 NSWRFL season. McDonald returned to Queensland after three seasons with the Sea Eagles to captain-coach Toowoomba and was elected president of the club after his retirement. He also coached
Queensland in the late 1970s and was coach of the Maroons' first
State of Origin team in 1980. By the end of the decade, he had progressed to the position of President of the
Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and, in 1998, joined the
National Rugby League Executive Committee and was named Chairman of the QRL and
Australian Rugby League Board of Directors. That year, he was also named "Sport Administrator of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards. McDonald was appointed a
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the
2004 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 2008,
rugby league in Australia's centenary year, McDonald was named at centre in the Toowoomba and South West Team of the Century. 2016 saw him inducted into Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. == Personal life and death ==