TOM McDonald’s form has undeniably been down in 2019, and he’s the first to admit it.

But the lack of goals hasn’t been due to a lack of effort.

They key forward is trying as hard as ever to get his season rolling, but admits he may be doing a little too much.

“I feel like I’ve had a pretty poor start to the year and I’m a person who likes to try different things if things aren’t working, which sometimes probably goes to my detriment,” McDonald said on RSN on Monday morning.

“I reckon sometimes I’m trying too hard – wanting it too much.”

And while his performances haven’t been as strong as he had hoped, McDonald can’t quite pin point a reason as to why.

“I thought I had a reasonable year last year in a new role and I was able to really contribute,” he said.

“I’ve had a good pre-season where for the first time in three years where I haven’t really had a major surgery.

“So there’s other years where I’ve had big time off and I thought yep, great, I’m going to have a good pre-season eventually and I should be able to improve, and then it doesn’t come to you early in the season and it’s frustrating.

“You’re trying different things at training and trying to work harder and harder and do extra weights and stuff.

“It’s almost the last week or so I’ve just tried to relax a little bit and it started to come back a bit on the weekend.”

The 26-year-old was the hero for his side on Saturday night, booting the match winning behind against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium.

But it was his three-goal effort that has given him some confidence for the coming weeks.

“On the form, I feel like I got back a little bit better on the weekend,” he said.

“I started to mark the ball a bit better. I didn’t have my best game, but I felt I was able to contribute and hit the scoreboard and kick a couple of goals.

“But it was more I just felt like I was in the contest a bit more – I wasn’t stuck in between play with the ball going over my head the whole time.

“There’s still a lot more to give and hopefully if I can give that it’ll help the team with our scoring, giving us a good option to go forward, because sometimes we’re just kicking in hope a fair bit, so I’ve got a big role to play in that.”