a seventh-place finish in Melbourne's best and fairest. 2015–2016: Emergence as the main defender at Melbourne After introducing a more offensive style into the way his game, McDonald opened the 2015 AFL season with a team-high twenty-six disposals in the twenty-six point win against Gold Coast and was named in the best players. The departure of James Frawley, saw McDonald emerge as the number one defender at Melbourne and he was highly praised in the first half of the season where he was compared to the 2014 All-Australian centre half-back, Alex Rance, with Herald Sun journalist, Sam Landsberger debating whether McDonald's season was better than Rance's. He was labelled as Melbourne's most improved player and was named as a potential All-Australian. After his direct opponent, Travis Cloke, kicked seven goals in the Queen's Birthday clash, McDonald found himself lose form and he was moved into the forward line to help regain his confidence. He spent the second half of the year playing in both the forward and back line, which drew the praise of both then-senior coach Paul Roos and backline coach, Jade Rawlings, for his versatility. He played every match for the year, which earned him a third-place finish in Melbourne's best and fairest. On the eve of the 2016 season, McDonald was named in Melbourne's leadership group. Due to finish the season out-of-contract, speculation surrounded his season as to whether he would re-sign with the club. He ultimately re-signed with the club in August on a two-year deal, tying him to Melbourne until the end of the 2018 season. The round sixteen match against at TIO Stadium in a thirty-two point win saw McDonald record a career-high thirty-one disposals, ten marks, and six rebound-50s, which earned him the centre half-back position in AFL Media's team of the week. He played his 100th AFL match in the two-point win against Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round nineteen. He played every match during the year and finished sixth in Melbourne's best and fairest count. 2017–Present: Melbourne's key forward, leading goalkicker Following Max Gawn's early season hamstring injury, McDonald was redeployed as a back-up ruckman to assist the undersized Cameron Pedersen. McDonald also played as a wingman, where he could apply his elite running capacity. Playing in this role, McDonald was awarded three Brownlow votes for amassing 26 disposals, twelve marks and a goal against the Essendon Bombers