TOM McDonald says he’s desperate to become an All-Australian player as it will be a measuring stick against the rest of the key defenders in the competition.

The determined defender said he was still developing his game, but remains eager to take to his game to another level – as it will ultimately help the rest of the team.

“I don’t actually know where I see myself. I don’t see enough of every other key defender to know how they’re going but that hasn’t changed for me,” he told Dee TV.

“I want to make myself an All-Australian sooner rather than later so that will be the test if I can get a nomination. That would be a measuring stick of how you’re going in the competition but it’s a hard question to answer.

“It’s not like there’s a lot of things you can use to measure against other players.”

McDonald said his 2014 season was a “solid year”, but he’s driven to up the ante next year.

“It wasn’t an outstanding year. I think my first half of the year was really quite good. With [James] Frawley going forward, I was able to play on some of the best key forwards, which gave me the chance to grow a little bit and play on some of those guys for a long period of time, which was fantastic to develop,” he said.

“I was a little bit less consistent in the second half of the year … I still think that it was a good year of development for me, but I probably expected more from myself at the start of the year.

“It was good to have a full season and hopefully that leads into a better year next year with Roosy. We’ve already had a year with him now so hopefully that leads to bigger and better things next year.”

Although still only 22 years old, McDonald said he had experienced plenty in his time at the club, although he was determined to take his game to the next level in 2015. 

“There’s good and bad things of the situation that I came into. The bad thing is that it can be tough playing in a backline in a losing side as we’ve been for the last few years, but the good thing is that I got that experience at 18 years old in my first year,” he said.

“A lot of other key defenders probably have to wait until they’re 21 or 22, which is the age I am now, to be able to get that opportunity at a good club.

“Hopefully that’s helped me fast track so that by the time I’m 25, I’ll have seen everything there is to see as a key defender. There is definitely a part of development in it but I don’t think you should ever hold yourself back and say hang on, I’ve got to develop a bit more before I come good. I want to get there now.”

McDonald said Melbourne’s defence had a tough season in many respects due to several injuries and positional changes, but he added that plenty of benefits also came from the year.

“It chopped and changed. Colin Garland was injured at the start of the year and [James] Frawley was forward and back. [Neville] Jetta wasn’t even in the side at the start of the year,” he said.

“We probably had a patch down the middle where we all played together for a little while at one stage but it’s been very mix and match. Jeremy Howe coming back as well made things different and added a really good aspect to the backline.

“The consistency we had the year before probably hasn’t been there as a group but … especially earlier on in the middle part of the year, we were doing a lot of things really well as a back group.

“It’s been a challenge, not just for me, but for the whole backline – it’s been good to play with different players and have Jeremy down back and see what he can do. Grimesy (Jack Grimes) was there for a bit and then he got injured. It’s good to see what different players do when they’re down back. We got to see Ro Bail there for the last couple of games which was good and makes you think could that work for next year?

“With all of these different players, it gives you different options.”