At least that’s how his seemingly unlikely rise to the international coaching ranks with Malta.

McDonald took the helm after some banter with Berkeley fullback Matt Waugh on the Malta Rugby League facebook page tweaked the interest of the Maltese camp.

Long story short, MRL reached out to McDonald, a noted development coach, to take charge of the Knights tilt at the Emerging Nations World Cup at season’s end.

“The true story is it came from a facebook post where I was putting crap on the Waugh-horse,” McDonald said.

“Within moments I got a call asking if I was interested in being involved and I said I was more than happy to sit down and have a chat.

“I went up and met with them, they were looking to bring a bit more professionalism into their set-up and after speaking with them I was more than happy to jump on board.”

McDonald first linked with the squad last year and will oversee their clash with South Africa at St Marys on Sunday as a lead-in to the Emerging Nations World Cup at season’s end.

Beyond that, a berth in the World Cup proper in 2020 is the ultimate goal for the Knights, though McDonald said his squad is well aware of the long road ahead.

“It’s really a lead-in game for the Emerging Nations World Cup at the end of the year in September-October,” McDonald said.

“We’ve got a bit of a new team coming in so it’s a chance to check out a few players leading into that at the end of the year.

“There’s some games that will happen in Malta and over in Europe with the chance to qualify for the next World Cup would be the end game.

“We know a lot of things need to go in our favour for that to happen so our focus now is the emerging nations [World Cup] at the end of the year and trying to do the best we can in that.”

With such limited windows for preparation, McDonald said the role was more about man management than plays and structures.

“You’re not trying to re-invent the wheel, you just try to give them some direction,” McDonald said.

“There’s a core group of guys who’ve been involved in the Malta team for a couple of years now so I certainly wasn’t trying to give them anything brand new.

“It’s more about adding your flavour to it and making sure they’re bonding because if you’re a happy squad it’s a lot easier to win games.”

There is a strong Illawarra-South Coast presence in the squad, with Collegians skipper Blake Phillips and Wests halfback Justin Rodrigues set to play on Sunday as well as Helensburgh forward Kyal Greene.

Group Seven stars Jono Dallas (Jamberoo), Ian Catania (Warilla) and Nathan Flazon (Nowra-Bomaderry) are also part of McDonald’s squad and, in an ironic twist, Berkeley prop Joel Tubbs will line-up for South Africa.

“It’s a great selection for Tubbsy, I’m really proud of him for making that side,” McDonald said.

“You go in there going ‘gee I hope he does well, but not too well’. We’ve had some friendly banter over the last couple of weeks so it should be good.

“Guys like Blakey and J-Rod are two great talents, obviously, but they’re also two great blokes. They’re great players and it’s certainly better to have them in your side than playing against them.”