Having been released by Hawthorn at the commencement of the 1927 VFL season,[5] Donnellan played with Thornbury in the C.Y.M.S.
Association and then moved to North Melbourne[6] and made a solitary appearance late in the season.
During the next few years Donnellan did not play VFL football, again playing with Thornbury,[7] but he resumed with North Melbourne halfway through the 1931 VFL season and made 17 consecutive appearances in the team.
During this run of games he changed position from being a key forward to playing at full-back.
In 1935 Frank Donnellan married Jane Elizabeth O’Connell[9] and they lived in Melbourne until his death in 1994.