After an impressive debut season in 2014, Luke McDonald has labelled his follow up effort ‘disappointing’.

McDonald played 23 games last year, but only managed to play 14 in 2015 as he dealt with inconsistent form.

“In that aspect I’m not overly happy with (my year),” McDonald told NMFC.com.au.

PRESS PLAY above to watch the full interview | YouTube

“The spell in the VFL is going to serve as good motivation and I saw that I’ve got a lot of work to do to become the player I know I’m capable of being.”

McDonald spent the majority of June and July playing for Werribee, omitted from North’s side after Round 9 and not returning until Round 17.

“It was good to go back to the VFL, get a bit of touch, and then come back into the side.

“But even though it was disappointing to be back there, Werribee embraced me and I enjoyed my time while I was there.

“I definitely learned a lot from my time at Werribee this year.”

On an individual note, McDonald was finally able to register his first AFL goal. After being a very late inclusion for the semi-final against Sydney, the left footer floated forward and was able to kick straight in his 37th game.

“It was nice to get that monkey off my back with the goal, and getting all the boys around me, I enjoyed that day,” McDonald said.

“That was certainly the highlight of the year for me. Hopefully there’s plenty more where that comes from.”

The 20-year-old realises how important the upcoming summer is to his goal of breaking back into the club’s best 22.

“Over the pre-season I had a bit of a back injury so I wasn’t able to be in the greatest shape. I let myself down there and I realised how important the pre-season is.

“I’m really looking forward to getting stuck back into training and getting ready for next year.

“I’ll have a couple of weeks off just to relax, let the body recover a bit. Then I’ll be straight back into next year because I’ve got a point to prove.”