Dartford's in-form striker Cody McDonald was given a trial by new Norwich manager Bryan Gunn at the end of January 2009

“He'd been scoring a lot of goals in the Ryman Premier,” Gunn said. “He came in and did well. We had a practice match on the Sunday and he trained on the Monday and he's got good qualities. We're just keeping an eye on him. He scored another couple of goals the other night for Dartford in an Essex Cup game. He was recommended from scouts and you have a look. I've not seen him in a full 90 minutes myself so I probably need to do that before making a final decision, but he certainly didn't do himself any harm in here when he was training with the first team squad.”

McDonald, who has previously played for Maldon Town and WithamTown, had also been linked with Crystal Palace, Peterborough, Wycombe Wanderers, Fulham and Sheffield United.

After Gunn watched him play for Dartford on 31st January 2009 against Maidstone, McDonald was offered and signed a one and a half year contract with Norwich on 2nd February 2009 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £25,000, and the option of an extended contract.

McDonald made his debut as a substitute in the 2-0 win over Cardiff on 10th March 2009 and scored City's second goal. McDonald had scored on his reserve team debut, scored another in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Chelsea, scored on his full debut against Cardiff and then added a brace in a reserve team win over Wroxham. “He has got a good habit of scoring goals and to be fair it's something you can't really coach to be honest with you,” said Ian Crook

He played 25 times during City's 2009/10 League One title winning season, scoring four goals.

On 16th July 2010, Cody joined Gillingham on a year's loan as part of the deal that saw Simeon Jackson sign for the Canaries. He had a strong season for the Gills playing 43 times and scoring 25 goals.

In mid-June 2011, Cody was reported to have had talks with Oldham Athletic. At the beginning of August 2011, Sheffield Wednesday manager Gary Megson said that he was abandoning his interest in Cody after being quoted £600,000 according to the Sheffield Star. He was then linked with Paolo Di Canio's Swindon.

On 31st August 2011, Cody signed for Coventry on a three year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Cody was in the line-up for Coventry when they lost to Doncaster on 21st April 2012 and were relegated to League One.

On 25th January 2013, Cody rejoined Gillingham on a 93 day loan agreement. He had scored three goals in 16 appearances for Mark Robins' Coventry during the first half of the 2012/13 season. Coventry City have an option of recalling the forward after one month. "Cody has a fantastic record here at Priestfield," Gills boss Martin Allen said. "He loves this place and after meeting him on Sunday morning up north I was impressed with his attitude and I liked him as a person."

He continued his scoring streak for Gillingham with an 85th minute equaliser against York on his second Gillingham debut on 26th January 2013, followed by another in the 2-0 win over Northampton on 29th January.

McDonald was recalled by Coventry's new manager Lee Carsley on 25th February. He had scored four goals in seven games for Gillingham

McDonald signed for Gillingham on a two year deal on 10th July 2013 following his release by Coventry. Gillingham boss Martin Allen said: “Cody is a match winner – he scores goals and in his loan period, on and off the field, he conducts himself in the right way. He works hard and our chairman Paul Scally has worked for the last couple of months to get this deal done. Last time here he got 26 goals in one season and this time he will be looking for 30.”

On 23rd June 2017, Cody rejected a new contract from Gillingham and signed for AFC Wimbledon on a free transfer. he had scored 48 goals in 153 appearances in his most recent stint at Gillingham.

Cody was released by Wimbledon at the end of the 2017/18 season having scored seven goals in 40 games.

After a trial with Coventry in the Autumn of 2018, he signed for Conference side Ebbsfleet on 26th November 2018. McDonald was released by Ebbsfleet on 23rd January 2020. He had scored three goals in 14 games but had not played for eleven months due to a serious cruciate knee ligament injury.