Menzel relishes chance to prove his quality at last

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTY

THE gravity of the situation hit Daniel Menzel when he hobbled into hospital.

“I can remember I walked into hospital and I’m (thinking), ‘I hope there’s just no cameras or anything because this looks like I’ve done something seriously bad’,” Menzel said.

As his teammates were preparing to take on Sydney in Round 6, he was a few kilometres down the road being pumped with “morphine, Endone and everything else”.

The cortisone injection he had in his groin days earlier had taken a nasty turn, rendering him a cripple and requiring intervention to dull the pain.

Tonight, Menzel returns for the first time since Round 5 — a match also at the Adelaide Oval — when the Cats look to press their top-four claims against the Crows.

In a recent To the Final Bell podcast, he detailed the adverse reaction to the jab that was intended to manage a groin complaint, but instead left him barely able to walk.

“Had the jab, was OK 24 hours later, and about 48 hours later was in agonising pain where I literally couldn’t walk because every time I moved, my joint would move as well,” Menzel said.

“It was agony. I actually remember it was (before) the Sydney game here — the week that I was going to miss anyway — I was in hospital.

“They put me on morphine, Endone and everything else.

“For a good week, I couldn’t really walk properly and couldn’t train for a month all up.

“It was frustrating because I knew every week that went by that I couldn’t train, it would cost me a couple of weeks in reconditioning as well.

“So I’m rapt that I’m now able to actually train and play, but at the same time it was a long 8-10 weeks.”

Menzel said the doctors had never seen such a chain of events before.

“Our docs spoke with so many docs from across the AFL and other sports as well and it’s a really tough one,” he said. “And even now he’s like, ‘I don’t think we can 100 per cent diagnose what it is. We’ve got a fair idea that it’s a combination of things, but it’s one of those things where it’s an unusual one’.”

Menzel was Geelong’s leading goalkicker across the opening weeks of the season after kicking 15 goals in his five matches.

Out of contract at season’s end and playing on a modest wage, the 26-year-old said the setback was frustrating in a year in which he had a point to prove.

“You’re obviously really frustrated because, for me, it was my first full pre-season since (the first of the four knee reconstructions),” he said.

“And I guess, for me, I felt it was the first year I was actually able to show everyone in the competition, including people at this footy club, what I could actually do.

“To put it together for a year consistently was my goal, so that was probably the most disappointing thing.

“That frustration was there for a good few weeks, but I guess once you’re able to start training again, you’re able to look forward. It’s when you’re sitting at home and not able to do anything, that’s when all those thoughts go through your mind.

“So it was a battle for a month.”