McDonald suffered a punctured lung against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in round 14, and missed the subsequent match with the injury.
But he remarkably played in round 16 against Fremantle, when it would have been reasonable to think he would be sidelined for longer.
But the second year Demon, who finished third in Melbourne’s best and fairest in 2012, said returning to the field actually helped his game.
“There was a little bit of doubt - what if I got hit again?” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“I was still a little bit tender and I’d played before with sore ribs, so it was more of a mental thing. If you get hit, you might be sore for 30 seconds, but it’s not too big a deal really.
“If you get a couple of touches or a couple of spoils in, you forget about anything that’s going on with your body, and you’re in the game. That happened to me and it didn’t really bother me.”
McDonald said he remembers the incident occurring vividly.
“I just remember getting the knee in the back - it was a high ball that came in - and I sat under it and big Daniel Merrett got his knee right under my armpit,” he said.
“It wasn’t that painful having it happen, but the drive back and missing a week and being a bit sore for the rest of the week was frustrating.
“But considering what happened, it was pretty lucky that I didn’t have a more severe case of lots of broken ribs and a punctured lung. I was pretty lucky in some sense.”
Along with player services manager Craig Lees, McDonald made the trek back by vehicle from Queensland to Victoria, given the nature of his injury meant he couldn’t fly.
McDonald said with a smile that the drive back was one of the toughest parts of dealing with the injury.
“We were hoping that I may be able to fly and then when he (the doctor) said ‘no’, I was still trying to push him to get on the plane, because I didn’t want to drive back,” he said.
“We couldn’t in the end, so then me and Craig Lees, the welfare guy here, we went and rented a car and drove 10 hours each day and stayed the night in Dubbo.
“It was a long trip, but we got it done and got home, and I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t play. I was happy that I was able to get out there the week after and play with the boys, so I’m lucky. I’d take that over a week or two in hospital.”
McDonald also received a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in round 13 this year. While pleased to receive the recognition, he said it was a good acknowledgement for his junior club Edenhope-Apsley.
“It’s always nice to be recognised in the competition,” he said.
“I was able to have an all right game that week and I got the nomination, so I was pretty proud. I’m happy that I got the award, and the local footy club got some footies out of it.
“So it was nice, but it’s not too big a deal in the context of the season.”
