Dan free to play with flair

STAR Geelong forward Daniel Menzel should be left to play the game with his natural flair, according to his coach Chris Scott.

Menzel was again quiet in his second game back at AFL level after a lengthy lay-off due to a groin complaint but with seconds left on the clock he played a vital part in the telling piece of play that allowed the Cats the chance to steal the game after the siren.

The South Australian’s ability to bend the ball around his body from the Moorabool St wing gave Tom Hawkins the opportunity to mark and feed off a handball to Mitch Duncan, who hit up Zach Tuohy just before the siren sounded.

Speaking on 3AW yesterday, Scott said while there had to be a balance, Menzel was a player that often needed little coaching.

“I definitely let him play a bit and we coach some things with him really hard, but hopefully we don’t coach out the instinctive play that you saw with that kick back through the middle,” Scott said.

“He is as good a kick around his body with penetration as I have seen, so with some of those pieces of individual flamboyance can come some frustration at times as well.

“So you always try to balance those things when you coach those players but our philosophy generally is to not over coach them and turn them into boring, vanilla players.”

Menzel’s numbers have been down since his return to the AFL side but on several occasions on Saturday night he was in prime position to mark the ball before being interfered with by an opponent.

Frustratingly, no free kicks were forthcoming, and Scott conceded that although umpires had a difficult job, the rewards would come Menzel’s way if he continued to put himself in the right spots.

“I think it is a concern how difficult the game is to umpire and I understand Melbourne would be frustrated with the free kick that Dangerfield got for the ruck infringement, so, especially when we lose we tend to focus on the ones that could have made a difference,” he said.