A tweet from Sydney-based radio show Soccer Stoppage Time on Monday declared that McDonald had requested his immediate release from Western United - with the outlet later declaring on their Monday evening broadcast that there had been a falling out between the attacker and Rudan thanks to the latter's two-week-long absence from the team sheet.

When contacted on Monday, however, a United official dismissed the report as ‘fake news’ and multiple sources have subsequently told FTBL that McDonald had made no such request – first discovering the rumour when he discovered a bevy of text messages waiting for him requesting his status following training.

FTBL since understands that McDonald had a meeting with United officials on Tuesday morning to clear the air in the wake of the reports and has also been taking part in normal training.

Speaking to media on Thursday afternoon, Rudan elaborated on the circumstances surrounding the 36-year-old attacker.

“[As I said] post-Victory game he was out through an Achilles injury and he's been carrying that for a while,” Rudan said.

“So, he's been playing with a lot of pain, but he's been putting in a good shift for the team and in the end, we decided that was the best time [to rest him].

“And then the preparation for Brisbane was very limited - we had two tactical sessions really, we were just trying to freshen them up and we thought it was better for him just to stay behind and then get a game against [NPL Victoria side] St Albans - which he did and he scored a brace there.

“So, in terms of has he asked for a release? No, he hasn't asked for a release.

“It's quite interesting, but it's no different to anywhere else - people are going to ask these sorts of questions, they're going to throw stones at us - it's been happening from day one in different situations and areas in terms of our football club.”

The former Celtic man, though, is unlikely to feature against Western Sydney Wanderers this Friday night.

“We did an XI v XI [in training] and he's kind of feeling that pain again," said Rudan. “[He'll] probably miss [against Western Sydney Wanderers].