LUKE McDonald shapes as North Melbourne's highest priority re-signing in 2018, but the utility's future might not be resolved until late in the year.
McDonald is set to come out of contract at the end of this season and has yet to open serious talks with the Kangaroos on a new deal.
However, nothing untoward should be read into this.
McDonald, a father-son recruit whose father, Donald, still works at the club in a senior commercial role, is a rusted-on Shinboner and barring some unforeseen turn of events will be at Arden Street next year.
It's understood the primary reason negotiations are yet to begin is because McDonald is someone whose market value is hard to determine at the moment, with both player and club content to wait until later in the season when they'll have more exposed form to base their talks on.
The 23-year-old's position is not unlike the one his childhood friend Jack Billings was in last year.
Billings, 2013's No.3 draft pick, was content to wait until mid-August before re-signing with St Kilda for another two years, having in the meantime produced the most consistent football of his career to set up a fifth-place finish in the club's best and fairest award.
McDonald was the No.8 pick in the same draft, the highest selection ever used on a father-son recruit.
The former Oakleigh Charger looked a star-in-the-making in his debut season, when he slotted seamlessly into North's defence, playing 23 games, including all three of the Roos' finals.
The judges in that year's NAB AFL Rising Star award were sufficiently impressed to vote McDonald into third place, just seven votes behind winner Lewis Taylor and six votes behind runner-up Marcus Bontempelli. Other nominees that year included Billings, Josh Kelly, Joe Daniher, Zach Merrett, Matt Crouch, Jonathon Patton, Jack Martin and Jake Stringer.
However, McDonald's form dipped so much in his second season he was dropped three times, while a torn hamstring tendon severely disrupted an otherwise solid 2016.
Last year, McDonald's form and fitness both held up and the results were very encouraging.
Over the 2018 pre-season, McDonald trained with the Kangaroos' midfield group, with a view to playing an expanded onball role.
Although he has spent the majority of the opening three rounds in defence, it seems a matter of time before McDonald becomes a key member of North's onball unit. His booming left foot and willingness to take the game on would potentially add a more damaging edge to the Kangaroos at centre bounces.
McDonald is also a fierce competitor with a liberal dose of muck on the pluck, while off the field his outgoing personality has made him a popular and galvanising figure among a playing group heavy on more reserved characters.
These are qualities of a natural leader. Despite his disciplinary hiccup on February's community camp in Tasmania when he broke a club-based drinking ban,
McDonald shapes as one of the leading candidates to succeed Jack Ziebell when his captaincy reign eventually ends.
He has already been made the custodian of one of the most prestigious jumper numbers at Arden Street, having inherited the revered No.11 most famously worn by Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer when Michael Firrito retired at the end of 2016. Votes of confidence don't get any bigger than that at North Melbourne.
For all of these reasons, the futures of McDonald and the Kangaroos appear irrevocably intertwined.
By the end of this season, we expect that connection will have been reinforced with a new contract, the value of which will be determined by McDonald's on-field output this year.
