As the Cats were preparing for what they hoped would be a fourth consecutive Grand Final appearance, they took a conservative approach with players they felt could use a brief break.
Joel Selwood, Andrew Mackie, Shannon Byrnes, Corey Enright and Cameron Ling all spent some brief time on the sidelines knowing they would be back for the finals.
It was a situation that was clear as day to Menzel who was just grateful for the experience of playing three senior games before inevitably losing his spot to a more senior player.
"I knew going into it there were a couple of players to come back in. I kind of prepared myself that I wasn't going to be playing finals. It didn't come as a shock and the coaches said they were happy with my role in those games," Menzel said.
"I definitely saw it coming. I played my first game and we had a couple of injuries. Every game after that I just took as a bonus and didn't expect to play my second or third game. Just to get those three games from where I had come from that year, I was wrapt and ecstatic. I knew I wasn't going to make the 22 come finals time anyway."
With the Cats undefeated after 13 rounds this year there is little chance Menzel will be forced out of the team at the business end of the season for he has cemented himself as a key part of the line-up.
So much so that he is this week's nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star.
Menzel kicked four goals and had 15 disposals in Saturday night's win over St Kilda in what was his best performance of the season.
He has played all but one game this year and says new coach Chris Scott has given him the confidence to believe he is a valuable part of the team.
"He came to me pre-season and said we're going to need a much broader list this year rather than need the 22 or 25 players who go through in the previous year's list. He said we'd need 25-30 contributors this year and with injuries, it would be a lot easier to manage," he said.
"The younger blokes coming through, my tier really had to take that step forward. So it gave me confidence to know I had his backing to give it a real crack and cement my spot."
Menzel, Mitch Duncan, Taylor Hunt and Nathan Vardy have all forced their way into the most successful team of the past five years, an achievement that seemed almost impossible only a year ago.
Menzel says the four as well as Allen Christensen and Josh Cowan made the effort to encourage one another as they hunted that elusive senior position.
"We did try and help each other out but we all knew it would be tough to crack into the team. We knew if we had a decent pre-season there would be spots and opportunities to come along. We've all had a crack this year," he said.
Not that there is any divide between the new generation and Geelong's elder statesmen. Quite the opposite according to Menzel.
He may be at the opposite end of his career to players like Ling, Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn and Cameron Mooney but he says they have made it easy for the younger players to settle in.
"It's very inclusive. The senior boys are great, they do make it easy to adapt and come into the team as well. They are great to get along with," he said.
"We do have a lot more senior blokes in our squad but they've been where we have before so they make it easy for us."
