Bradley James McDonald (born 17 February 1990) is a Papua New Guinean international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a defensive midfielder for Central Coast United in the NSW NPL 3. Born in Mount Hagen, McDonald played youth football in Australia after moving there at a young age. He played for a number of Australian clubs at senior level, including in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

for North Queensland Fury and Central Coast Mariners.

Career

After moving to Australia at the age of 5, McDonald began his career with the Brisbane Roar in their youth system before heading to the Brisbane Strikers in the QSL competition. On 12 August 2010, McDonald was signed by the North Queensland Fury. McDonald made his debut for the club against Adelaide United coming off the bench. He has been a regular started since his debut. On 15 April 2011, he signed for

outfit Central Coast Mariners. He made only one first team league appearance for the side, starting in a 2–1 win over Melbourne Heart on 30 March 2013. He also appeared in one

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

match, coming on as a late substitute in a loss to

Guizhou Renhe Beijing Chengfeng Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Fengtai District, Beijing and their h ...

in April 2013. In January 2016, McDonald returned to the Mariners, having spent three seasons playing in the National Premier Leagues. He was released by the club one year later.

International

McDonald was called up by Aurelio Vidmar for an Australia U-23 training camp in October 2011. At the time, he stated that he was still potentially interested in playing for Papua New Guinea as an alternative to Australia. In September 2014, McDonald made his debut for Papua New Guinea, coming on as a substitute and setting up a goal in a 2–1 loss to Singapore. In January 2016, he stated his commitment to representing Papua New Guinea and that he was in the process of obtaining citizenship which is necessary to appear in competitive matches for the country. He hoped to have the paperwork completed in time to compete in the

2016 OFC Nations Cup The 2016 OFC Nations Cup was the tenth edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The tournament was played between 28 May and 11 J ...

. However, he was not part of the final roster for the tournament.

Honours

Club

Central Coast Mariners: * A-League Premiership: 2011–2012 * A-League Championship: 2012–2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Brad 1990 births Living people Papua New Guinean men's soccer players Papua New Guinea men's international soccer players Papua New Guinean expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players Brisbane Strikers FC players Northern Fury FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players Central Coast Mariners Academy players APIA Leichhardt FC players Manly United FC players Davao Aguilas F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in the Philippines Men's association football midfielders People from the Western Highlands Province Philippines Football League players