[7] Strongly built (at enlistment he stood 5 ft 7½ in, weighed 11 st 9 lbs, and had an expanded chest measurement of 37 in), McDonald was fast on his feet, and had some success as a handicap runner.
Carlton noticed his impressive performance, signed him up, and he played his VFL debut, aged 20, against St Kilda, on 29 July 1911 (round fifteen).
Leaving his employment with Pearson, Rowe, Smith, and Co., 416 Bourke Street, Melbourne, he enlisted in the First AIF on 17 August 1914, and served, as a private, in the 7th Battalion, A.I.F.
[11] Claude Crowl who had played his first game for St Kilda on the same day that McDonald made his debut for Carlton, also died in action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.
A special medal named in McDonald's and Crowl's honour was presented to the best player on the ground in the match played between St Kilda and Carlton on the hundredth anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.