LUKE McDonald has been rewarded for his strong start to 2016 with a two-year contract extension at North Melbourne.

McDonald, North's first selection in the 2013 NAB AFL Draft at No.8 overall, was due to come out of contract at the end of this season but is now tied to Arden Street until the end of 2018.

McDonald said he was rapt to re-sign with the Roos so early in the season.

Match preview: North Melbourne v Melbourne

"The plan was always to get it done early in the year so I could focus on the footy," McDonald told Fox Sports.

"North came to me not too long ago and we did it pretty fast. I'm very excited to sign for the next two years."

The son of 1980s North forward Donald McDonald, McDonald enjoyed an outstanding debut season in 2014, playing 23 games including all three of North's finals and finishing third in the NAB AFL Rising Star award.

However, the defender had a tougher second year. Dropped twice in the 2014 home and away season, he got a late call up when Robbie Tarrant had to withdraw from North's semi-final win over the Sydney Swans. 

But after kicking his maiden AFL goal in the Roos' stirring win over the Swans, he was dropped for the following week's preliminary final against West Coast.

McDonald reclaimed his senior spot ahead of the 2016 season and does not intend to let it go.

"It was definitely disappointing to find myself out of the side and to not play in all of the finals because all you want to do is play in a successful team," McDonald said.

"Looking back on it, it's almost a year that I had to have because it really woke me up to all of the things I really wasn't doing.

"It's definitely been a driving factor going into the pre-season and this year, trying to do everything right and working on the things that I needed to work on."