The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Luke McDonald. He’s just finished high school and travelled half-way around the world to train with the Kangaroos in Utah in order to begin his new life as an AFL footballer.

“It was more like the last couple of weeks because I finished my exams last Friday and um, on the Thursday, the AFL gave me permission to come up here so it was good distraction from my exam…it’s been so full-on but now I’m finished school and I’m in Utah with the Kangaroos so I’m pretty up and about,” he told kangaroos.com.au.

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The son of North Melbourne’s chief of football Donald, Luke is eligible to be taken in next year’s National Draft as a father/son selection. In the meantime, he’s been given the green light to train with the team while his friends celebrate at ‘Schoolies’ week.

“They’ve been pretty supportive about it all, obviously I’d love to be there but you know, if I had the option I’d definitely rather be here.

“I was a bit nervous because I don’t really know many of the boys that well, obviously my dad works here and I’ve said ‘Hi’ to them and all that, but on a personal basis, I don’t know any of them at all.

“Coming to Utah and getting this experience is awesome and that made me really excited to get a leg-up on all the kids in my age group.”

As for his father, there’s nothing but pride.

“For me as a dad it’s a good thrill but more importantly…hopefully he’ll end up being a good player for North Melbourne that’s the number one thing,” Donald McDonald commented.

“It’s up to him now, you know he’s been given an opportunity so, (we’ll) see how he goes.”

Hours after stepping off the plane, Luke participated in his first official training session and took time to get used to the conditions.

“…you can’t breathe…after the warm-up I was just gone…but um, after that I sort of got used to it but they’ve pulled me out of all the conditioning and I’m just doing all the skills so I’m pretty happy about that…it’s been good just to get around all the boys…it’s been pretty tough as well just adapting to the new environment.

“Yeah just ease me in but I think once like all the first yearers, the draftees (from) last night, once they all get here, then I think I’ll be doing most of the things. So just working into it.

And it seems he’s already been accepted by the players.

“They’re calling me ‘Silver’ because I’ve got a birthmark on the side of my head and it’s silver so I think that’s going to stick…I thought I could get worse ones (nicknames) so that’s alright.”