Luke McDonald says he’s thrilled to sign a new contract, which will see him remain at North until at least the end of 2018.

The 21-year-old joins teammate Taylor Garner in putting pen to paper, with the duo having agreed to two-year deals in recent days.

McDonald said he was excited to have secured his future with the Roos.

“The plan was always to get it done early in the year so I can focus on the footy,” McDonald said.

That focus has been paying off, with McDonald featuring in the club’s two wins in 2016.

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McDonald is the first to admit his 2015 didn’t go to plan, with the number 21 not featuring in as many games as he would have hoped.

“Looking back on the year, it was almost the year I had to have, because it really woke me up,” he said.

“It was the small things I probably hadn’t been doing. It was definitely a driving factor going into this year, going into the pre-season and doing everything right.”

He credited the coaching group for motivating him to greater heights, including Senior Development Manager Gavin Brown.

“I had a lot to do with Gavin Brown who was awesome for me, just throughout the year and into this year and keeping me on my toes,” McDonald said. 

“He’s a pretty handy resource to have. He’s really helped me hopefully cement my spot back in the side.”

After a strong start to 2016, McDonald knows he can’t take his selection for granted.

“I just want to do all the things the coaches want me to do to keep my spot. It’s definitely a year to re-establish myself because I was on the fringes last year.

“I just needed to get stronger. There’s a lot of competition, we have a strong and healthy list.”

After winning its first two games for the first time since 2005, McDonald said he could see plenty of early improvement in the North side.

“In previous years, we probably would have lost on the weekend (against Brisbane), whereas now, even when we are not playing our best footy we can grind out those wins.”

The hard-at-it defender expects Melbourne to come out firing at Blundstone Arena this Sunday.

“No doubt they’ll be pretty fired up. That’s out of our control.

"We’ll just do what we always do and prepare to play them, looking forward to getting down to Hobart, getting down to our second home, and getting amongst the cold conditions.

“We’ve had some pretty good wins down there. It’s still really nice, hopefully we can get a big crowd and have another good win.”