Daniel Menzel

[Topkent]

By far and away the best football story in recent memory, forgot about the African boys who have lived in Australia the majority of their life and the athletes who have come from other sports.
For him to miss 4 seasons with re-occuring knee injuries and come back and actually still be one of the classiest forwards in the game is a testament to his rehab strength

If this is how well he can play after 4 years out its a shame we missed his quality in between because he could have been anything by now

 

[Art Vandelay_]

5 years ago to the day he injured his knee for the first time in a QF v the Hawks.
Geelong 2nd Hawthorn 3rd. September 9 2011. First final since.

Eerie. So proud that the club stood by him. Other clubs might not have.
One player who deserves a clean run at footy for the rest of his career.

 

[coerced]

Weird that he plays his first final against the same team he played his last final, five years apart.

 

[Tyler Hodges]

Fair play, looks like Alex Johnson might be going down the same path, had a run on the SCG last week for first time in 900 odd days. Understated the discipline these guys must have to get over this mental
Hurdle time after time, kudos.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Fair play, looks like Alex Johnson might be going down the same path, had a run on the SCG last week for first time in 900 odd days. Understated the discipline these guys must have to get over this mental
Hurdle time after time, kudos.

I reckon the guys who are out for multiple consecutive years must have countless days in the gym etc where they think about giving up. That wouldn't be the easiest mental state to get past I'd imagine.
Mass respect for those types.

 

[Topkent]

The only reason I said Menzel is because of the level of footy he is playing, Johnson, Morabito, Trengrove, Woodward, Bailey etc they are all mentally incredible
Just that Menzel is one of the the best forwards in the AFL now and i don't think any player who has done consecutive knees has ever come back so well

 

[Kipz]

Yeah sitting around for thousands of dollars must have been tough

 

[Topkent]

Yeah sitting around for thousands of dollars must have been tough

Knowing you only get a finite window to play the sport you love and spending 4 years straight unable to do it would be tough, but no money's the only important thing in life

 

[Established1870]

Yeah sitting around for thousands of dollars must have been tough

Yeah Menzel getting his dream potentially pulled out from under him because of an ACL didn't matter to him because of the money. Yeah....

And a massive lol at the Hawthorn bandwagoners trying to compare Bailey to Menzel.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Yeah sitting around for thousands of dollars must have been tough

Footballers careers are also significantly shorter to a normal persons career. Most don't make it to 50 games, at one point with Menzel that looked near certain so bloody hell, I don't begrudge footballers making hay while the sun shines on good coin.

 

[JUBJUB]

Hawthorn supporters trolling a thread discussing Menzels injury. Are they serious?

They're hijackers.
Mention anything to do with Geelong and they get their panties wadded up and just hijack the thread.

Good luck to Denzel tonight.Shove it up these hijacking Hawks arses

 

[Xtreme]

It's a good story but it's not "GREAT" until he has a premiership next o his name and it won't be this year.....................

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Hawthorn supporters trolling a thread discussing Menzels injury. Are they serious?

They did cheer en masse when he did his knee.

Still the most pathetic thing I've seen from a crowd at the footy.

 

[MowShow]

Like Woodward, Bailey & Whitecross?

Why you would even mention any other players or try to make this about the Hawks is beyond me.. Incredibly floggish..

I hate the fact that he's probably going to carve us up tonight, and hated the fact that he was carving us up way back in 2011 - but you can't begrudge the guy one bit.

Great effort by Menzel and the cats to keep faith.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

From this moment forward, all Hawthorn posters shall now be known as :

 

[Xtreme]

He'd be your best youf and you know it.

Will Langford is 10 times the footballer Menzel is AND he has a premiership medal to prove it

 

[hawkgal02]

Menzel injured his knee?
Multiple times?
And had knee reconstructions?
this really should be mentioned more, I don't think enough people know!!

 

[lamaros]

He's not that great, really.

Good effort to recover from the injuries though.

 

[PhatBoy]

What was "great" about Stynes, McCartney or M-T ?

You are clutching at straws because not everyone sees Menzel as the second coming of Jesus.......

No, you're clutching at straws because you have access to this unseen set of rules and regulations that seems to be painted on the back of your eyelids.


'Sorry Jason, we know you were burned in a terror attack but we can't call your story great, we're going to go with this other guy who broke his collarbone and played in a winning grand final.'

 

[Brad Goodman]

Yeah sitting around for thousands of dollars must have been tough

That's pretty piss-poor.

 

[Flandersss]

Awesome story.

Hopefully he kicks a few on the big stage.

 

[Brad Goodman]

On a similar note, great seeing Clay Smith doing his thing as well.

 

[Brad Goodman]

What was "great" about Stynes, McCartney or M-T ?

You are clutching at straws because not everyone sees Menzel as the second coming of Jesus.......

In less than ten years Stynes went from never having kicked a footy to becoming the best player in the comp for a year (1991 was pretty unanimous). That's pretty great...

 

[Demonated]

What was "great" about Stynes, McCartney or M-T ?

You are clutching at straws because not everyone sees Menzel as the second coming of Jesus.......

I'm not usually a one-eyed supporter but this grinded my gears a little bit. Stynes was the first to come from a non-footy background to being a star of the AFL, winning a Brownlow and MVP in the same season. He was a hard running ruckman- building upon the changing dynamic of the role of a ruck in the modern game. His impact upon the AFL is far more profound than Max Bailey. We still to this day see Irish players running around for teams. If Stynes failed, this experiment may very well have gone by the wayside long ago. McCartney overcame an actual traumatic event to return (very briefly) to the top league. Being a survivor of a huge and significant terrorist attack is a far bigger story than somebody recovering from an injury that is common in sports.

There is a reason that these 2 will still be talked about in 10-20 years. There are football stories that happen outside of Hawthorn, I'm sorry that the only great stories that happen in the league must involve your own team. As for Menzel, if you think it's a boring story why bother posting in this thread? If it bores you that much, ignore it.

 

[who_let_the_dogs_out]

100% agree, great story to defy the odds and return to play at the level he has.

Clay Smith needs some recognition too, bloke has done 3 ACLs in his short career and completely flew under the radar to become a vital member of our 22.

But god forbid the media mention it, the sobrave campaigners will have another reason to whinge.