"The plan is to get back for the Gold Coast game - if they pick me," he told kangaroos.com.au.
After playing in the first four games of 2012, the highly rated defender hit an unexpected speed bump with a nasty illness hospitalising him twice.
"At the time I was already on antibiotics because I’d just had a root canal, I was also sick and my daughter was also sick," he recalled.
"First off I had a rash but the worst was about two to three days into it as it stuck around for about five days. It covered my whole body and I was itchy all over. My skin was raised and it was just foul."
After staying in hospital for several days, McMahon was discharged but things soon changed for the worse when his medicine dosage was reduced.
"Two nights after I got out, I had more joint pain. It was my knees, my ankles, my hips, shoulders, elbows, fingers - pretty much every joint swelled up and I couldn't move.
"It was the night before I got re-admitted to hospital and I just couldn't move, I was almost in tears. It was the worst pain I've ever felt. I had to get my wife to carry me to bed because I couldn't stand up, couldn't bend my legs and couldn't move my arms.
"The hardest thing with the joint pain was that one day it might be in my right elbow and then the next day it might be in my left knee. The day after that it might be the hands so it was just moving around. They said that because it was in my immune system it was travelling around the body and then picking a spot to settle."
"I was in hospital the second time for three more days."
Once McMahon was discharged, the recovery process began.
"I couldn't do much hard training until the joint pain went and that took a while. I had to be weaned off the steroids also.”
In his second game for Werribee, McMahon picked up 11 disposals and was comfortable back playing his role. North is now looking forward to having him back in the side for the second half of the year.
"Scott brings composure and leadership, which has been missing due to the fact we've had to play a relatively inexperienced backline,” chief of football Donald McDonald said.
“You really notice it when Scotty's not there because he's one of our most experienced players.”
