Luke Donald McDonald (born 9 February 1995) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who plays for the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He was recruited under the Father-son rule with the eighth selection in the 2013 national draft. His father, Donald McDonald played 155 games for North Melbourne and was working in the club's football department until he left to avoid any

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

Early life

McDonald participated in the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pro ...

program at Kew-Victoria Park. He played his junior football with the Kew Comets (YJFL) and his senior football at the

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werribee i ...

( VFL) whilst also playing for the

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban ar ...

(

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

) from which he was drafted by the

at No. 8 in the 2013 National Draft. In 2012 during his final year of school, he captained Trinity Grammar to a premiership in the AGSV competition.

AFL career

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 The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

Marcus Bontempelli Marcus Bontempelli (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as Western Bulldogs captain since the 2020 season, and was previ ...

and

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

Lewis Taylor Andrew Lewis Taylor (born 20 January 1966) is a British multi-instrumentalist musician, born and raised in Barnet, North London, England, in the late 1960s. He started in the music business as a guitarist touring with the psychedelic rock band E ...

. McDonald played in the

2014 AFL finals series The 2014 Australian Football League finals series is the 118th annual edition of the VFL/AFL final series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2014 AFL Premiership Season. The series ran over four we ...

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

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 The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

. 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 Cyril Rioli (born 14 July 1989) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. Rioli was a member of four premiership teams and the Norm Smith Medallist from the 2015 ...

, 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.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to end of 2015 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21, , 23, , 0, , 6, , 207, , 182, , 389, , 86, , 59, , 0, , 0.26, , 9, , 7.91, , 16.91, , 3.74, , 2.57 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 21, , 14, , 1, , 0, , 105, , 97, , 202, , 44, , 27, , 0.07, , 0, , 7.5, , 6.93, , 14.43, , 3.14, , 1.93, 1.93

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Luke 1995 births Living people North Melbourne Football Club players Werribee Football Club players Oakleigh Chargers players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) People educated at Trinity Grammar School, Kew