McDonald, 18, will spend draft night with family and close friends at home, with the event to be broadcast from the Gold Coast.

A product of Horsham District Football Netball League club Edenhope-Apsley, McDonald had a dominant season with TAC Cup side North Ballarat Rebels playing as a key forward and defender.

The Wimmera teenager said it had been a nervous wait.

‘‘I’m home at the moment and trying to keep myself busy,’’ he said.

‘‘I’ve been working at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat. A lot of my mates are there and I’ve had teachers asking about it.

‘‘I’m trying to keep a level head about it – you can’t get ahead of yourself in case it doesn’t happen.’’

AFL national talent manager Kevin Sheehan named the key tall as one of his top-40 draft prospects on Monday.

McDonald said the media attention – including praise from Melbourne defender and older brother Tom – was a positive.

‘‘It’s exciting. I don’t mind it at all,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s been a fair bit of media in the past two weeks.

‘‘It shows there’s some hope with the media and the AFL doing a few things.’’

McDonald did his chances of finding an AFL home no harm during a stellar 2014 season.

The key position player averaged 14.3 disposals and 6.2 marks across at TAC Cup level.

He did not break into Victoria Country’s under-18 team for the national championships, but continued to star for the Rebels and made a VFL debut with the North Ballarat Roosters.

McDonald was a clear winner of the Rebels’ best and fairest award, the Adam Goodes Trophy.

He was also named at centre-half-back in the TAC Cup team of the year and won the TAC Cup Coaches Award for the competition’s best opposition player.

His efforts resulted in an invitation to the Victorian draft combine, which was upgraded to a call-up for the national combine.

McDonald said he would jump at any opportunity to play AFL football.

‘‘Edenhope’s halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne, so those would be the ideal places,’’ he said.

‘‘We’ve grown up four and a half hours from a major city, so in terms of going interstate, I’m used to the travel and being away from my family.

‘‘If the opportunity arises, I’d go anywhere.’’

North Ballarat Rebels talent manager Phil Partington said McDonald had worked hard to put himself in a position to be drafted.

‘‘There’s quite a few clubs that have met with Oscar personally and spoken to us about him as well,’’ he said.

‘‘At the start of last year to mid-year, Oscar played six games for the Rebels and then broke his foot and was out for about eight or nine weeks.

‘‘Once that healed and we started pre-season, you could see Oscar improving week by week and becoming one of the leaders of our footy club.

‘‘He grew from getting a number of big tasks throughout the year and gained confidence.’’

After a month’s break following the national draft combine, McDonald has returned to training, which has included a number of sessions with the Roosters VFL squad.

McDonald said if the opportunity presented itself, he would not be against joining older brother Tom, who has played 60 AFL games, at the Demons.

‘‘My first game was actually with Tom in the under-14s – I was 11 and he was 14,’’ he said.

‘‘It was pretty special then, so to do that at AFL level would magnify it.’’

He said Tom had been extremely helpful throughout the year.

‘‘As soon as the interviews came up after the season I asked him what I should do – he gave me a couple of hints,’’ he said.

‘‘He said to be normal and act like yourself.’’

McDonald said the possibility of lining up against his brother would provide a dilemma for the McDonald family.

‘‘It would be pretty funny – I don’t know what Mum would do,’’ he said.