There is no doubt Laura McDonald loves her netball but as the brand of women’s football continues its rapid rise, the prospect of following in the footsteps of her brothers Tom and Oscar and joining the Melbourne Football Club is one too good not to pursue.
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McDonald is the only foundation member of the Ballarat Sovereigns netball team at Championship level in the Victorian Netball League. But she recently traded in the round ball for the oval ball as she took part in the AFL latest’s talent search a fortnight ago.
The 21-year-old was one of 60 athletes with athletic backgrounds in sports other than football, but unfortunately her day was cut short – straining her quad in the 20-metre sprint.
Nonetheless, McDonald said the day was a great experienced and while she couldn’t do much of the testing, it allowed her to build relationships with some of the relevant parties in the growing game of women’s football.
“It would be unbelievable (to join my brothers),” McDonald said.
“I’ve been really involved in terms of watching my brothers play which I always find quite exciting, but in terms of myself it’s all very new.
“They were excited about the opportunity it could bring, so I decided to pursue it.”
McDonald hasn’t played football for some time but given her bloodlines it has always been a constant in her life.
She played school football as a boarder at Ballarat Clarendon College and was now looking to once again pull on the boots and start training and see where it can take her.
“I played back in school, since then I haven’t even really kicked a football in four or five years.
“It’s still something exciting to go and do and just experience. Because I haven’t been playing footy in a while I thought it’d good to go and see how it’s all being run and where the opportunities lie and what you can do from there on.
“I love netball of course but this is something a little bit different.”
While McDonald hasn’t spoken to Melbourne on an official basis as yet, the dream of adding a third McDonald to the Demons list is a relevant one given her athletic background and strong history in netball’s equivalent to the VFL.
Despite the natural hype, she isn’t thinking about the draft at all and is just focusing on reacquainting herself with the game and getting back into some training.
“In terms of the draft, I haven’t thought about any of that, I don’t think that’s on the cards at this stage.
“(I just want) to try something new.”
