McDonald was eligible to play for Scotland through his parents and Nigeria coach Berti Vogts tried to enlist him to the Tartan Army.

But he says he only ever wanted to slip on the green and gold.

"He was in charge of Scotland and tried to get me to play for them," McDonald said.

"At the time I was still young and I was working hard at Motherwell. It was never at issue for me. I always wanted to play for Australia.

"That's where I grew up and played right through the levels from under-17 to under-23. It was just a matter of getting my cap and thankfully it came."

Now he's eager to try to recreate the kind of form for Australia that has seen him score 13 goals in 16 games for Celtic already this season.

"It's been stop start for me. I've had a few problems with injuries so it's nice to finally be back here," he said.

"It's a chance for me to show people back home what I can do. Obviously I've been doing well in Scotland and it would be nice to get a couple of goals for my country."

And he has thrown his backing behind Australia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

"If you look at our past history with whatever we've held our country has done a fantastic job," McDonald said. "I think the Olympics is still the best one ever held.

"It would be great if we could get the World Cup in 2018. If that was the case I'm sure all the people back home would be excited, whether they are soccer fans or not, because they love their sport.

"They will come to watch anything. They are very patriotic and proud to watch their country. Fingers crossed if we do put the bid in we get it."