The 21-year-old had LARS surgery in December after re-injuring his left knee during a tackling drill at training.
But he has trained strongly in recent weeks and the Cats' medical staff has cleared him to return to competitive action.
"Dan Menzel's a certainty," Geelong coach Chris Scott said on Tuesday morning.
"Haven't said that for a while, so that's exciting.
"The other certainty for Dan is that he'll spend a few weeks in the VFL."
Menzel previously tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Geelong's VFL team against North Ballarat at Simonds Stadium in early June last year.
It was his first competitive hit out since he needed reconstructive surgery on his right knee after going down in the 2011 qualifying final win over Hawthorn.
"We can talk about the devastation and the frustration, but I'm more inclined to talk about the excitement of getting such a valuable player … back into our VFL system first, then give him the chance to fight his way into our AFL team," Scott said.
"We can choose to focus on the fact that it's a sad story – and he's been through a hell of a lot.
"But the information I get from the experts is that there's no reason he can't come back and be the player he was."
There will be many nervous people when Menzel runs out for the Cats on Sunday, and the man himself is sure to have some butterflies in his stomach.
"That would only be natural," Scott said. "But I think he's had a long time to face his football mortality.
"And the time has come now that he's absolutely ready to play, and he can have faith that he's done everything he can possibly do."
Geelong is keen to play down talk that this is Menzel's last chance to resurrect his career.
"If there's a bad outcome somewhere along the line, then I think he'll face that the same way he's faced this one," Scott said.
"And I'm quite prepared to say this publically: if, at some point, he hurts his knee again, we'll just go through the same process, and he'll be back because the medical staff are telling us there's no reason he can't be."
Menzel is likely to be out on the field for a half against Sandringham, then build up his game-time over the following weeks.
"The plan is for him … to just get a feel for footy again," Scott said.
"There'll be no judgement made on his performance or his work-rate or anything like that.
"It's just about getting out and playing some footy again and working his way back into that competitive environment.
"But we're still confident he'll play pretty well."
Adam McNicol covers Geelong news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_AdamMcNicol
