North Melbourne (2014-) McDonald played
VFL for North Melbourne affiliate
Werribee during the 2013 season and attended North's preseason training camp in Utah. He made his debut in the opening round of 2014 against Essendon and played in all but 1 game of that season including the finals campaign. He was voted 3rd in Rising Star award behind
Western Bulldogs'
Marcus Bontempelli and
Brisbane Lions'
Lewis Taylor. McDonald played in the
2014 AFL finals series including North's elimination final win against Essendon, semi final win against Geelong where he was named in the bests picking up 20 disposals. McDonald also participated in North's heavy preliminary final defeat to the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium. In February 2015, McDonald revealed that he had suffered a stress fracture to his back during a match against the
Brisbane Lions in Round 15 of the previous season. The injury threatened to develop into a fracture-proper and McDonald was unable to train between games. Despite his injury concerns, he was noted in the media for several acts of courage on the field especially a tendency to 'go back with the flight of the ball'. During North Melbourne's 2015 season McDonald played 14 games, kicking his first goal in North's Semi Final win over the
Sydney Swans at
ANZ Stadium. While many commentators called McDonald's 2015 season disappointing including McDonald himself, in 2016 he regained form as well as his place in the team's best 22. In a round 13 Friday night game however, during a chase-down run of Hawthorn's small forward
Cyril Rioli, McDonald injured his hamstring sidelining him for 10 weeks. During 2016, McDonald signed a contract with North Melbourne, keeping him with the club until the end of 2018. McDonald is currently North Melbourne’s co-captain, alongside teammate Jy Simpkin. ==Statistics==