He had missed two weeks with a groin injury and a player whose story is synonymous with calamity was again on heartbreak's door.

"I didn't know whether I'd be right to go, and whether I'd even get a game in before finals to put my hand up," Menzel said, recalling his  concern.

Twenty-two disposals, four goals and a 111-point win over Melbourne later, Menzel's mood had changed.

"It's the biggest relief," he said. "To get through the game and feel as good as I did, and play as well as I did, is so pleasing going into finals."

Finals are not a foreign proposition for the crafty Geelong forward, but not far from it. The South Australian has a quarter and a half of finals experience  - reaping two goals in the Cats' 2011 qualifying final against Hawthorn. But in a moment that would until last year define his career, Menzel's knee buckled in the second quarter. What followed became one of the game's most storied tales of frustration. One knee reconstruction followed by  another, and another. Then a fourth. No AFL player had ever returned from such a cursed run to again be a senior mainstay.

But Menzel is no ordinary footballer.

His equally unlikely and uplifting comeback to Geelong's senior team late last year provided a silver lining on a night when the Cats' era of record-breaking brilliance came to an end - a loss to Collingwood that ensured the end of a run of eight straight finals campaigns.

He was overlooked in this season's early weeks after a slightly interrupted pre-season, but once into the team in round three his importance was soon apparent. Steve Johnson might have departed, but in Menzel the Cats again had a forward of rare class.

Across three weeks mid-season he kicked 11 goals - all against top eight sides - and all in Geelong wins. No longer was Menzel just a feel-good story - he was a potential premiership weapon. Seemingly he had cemented his place in the 22.

The late injury scare was to follow - a premature exit from August's win against Essendon - and a fortnight of apprehension leading into the Melbourne game. But having quashed those concerns emphatically, Menzel is set to be transported back to a stage he fleetingly knew.

"My goal this year was to play good footy throughout the year, but it was always to play finals. I feel like we've got there now," he said excitedly.

"Just to play finals, it's just a different atmosphere. It's something that you really look forward to. It's been five years, I haven't played [a final] in so long."

The parallels with last time around for Menzel are eerie. Again he is due to front up in a Friday night qualifying final at the MCG. Again the Cats have finished second on the ladder. Again their opponent will be the third-placed Hawks. The coaches remain the same: Chris Scott and Alastair Clarkson.

"I'd come off a pretty good game  in 2011 as well," Menzel notes. He's not wrong. In the final round of 2011 Menzel kicked five goals as Geelong thumped ladder-leading Collingwood, a dose they would repeat a month later in the grand final, sans the injured Menzel.

But so much has changed in football too. The night Menzel went down, then-St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was preparing for the following evening's finals date with Sydney. Mick Malthouse was still at the helm of Collingwood. Mark Neeld was a fortnight away from being unveiled as Melbourne coach.

The combatants may be the same in name, but around half of the players from the 2011 Geelong-Hawthorn final won't be on the field this time around. Menzel will be joined by just eight of his teammates from that last finals appearance: Jimmy Bartel, Mitch Duncan, Corey Enright, Tom Hawkins, Tom Lonergan, Andrew Mackie, Joel Selwood and Harry Taylor.

Never mind playing with Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Henderson and Zac Smith, Menzel hasn't even lined up in a final with Steven Motlop - who is nearing the end of his eighth season at the club.

"And there's a lot of guys I hadn't played footy with until this year so it's something that's really new but it's really exciting," Menzel said.

But the coexistence of one teammate would hold particularly special meaning. Hamstring and Achilles injuries meant that like Menzel - shaggy-haired dasher Josh Cowan didn't play at AFL level in 2012, 2013 or 2014. Before his senior recall for this year's round 17 match against Fremantle, Cowan had played just five AFL games in more than six and half years on the Geelong list.

Yet Cowan has played each of the last seven games  and would be unlucky to lose his place for the finals, not least because his senior record stands at 12 games for a perfect dozen wins. "It's great," Menzel said of the persistence of his teammate, with whom he shared too much time in rehabilitation.  He's come in, he's played his role really well. Joshy Cowan is one the football public doesn't know much about. But he's done a lot of hard work in the gym and I've seen that first hand. To put the work in that he has, it's always going to pay off. I'm so pleased for him. It's full credit to him."

If Cowan gets the nod, the significance won't be lost on Menzel.

"We'll definitely have a little moment before the game. It's something that you don't take for granted and we're obviously living examples of that I guess.

"It"s something that will be pretty special to share with him."

But few in Geelong's bottom six could afford to feel comfortable, with Henderson still to come back, and a chasing pack on the fringe of the side desperate for the opportunity to play at the pointy end of the year.

"I feel like we haven't had this depth since 2011," Menzel said.

"If you're going to win the premiership you need that depth. It's great to have. Obviously there's pressure on for spots which is good.

"We just know that if someone does go down unfortunately, we know that someone can come in and play that role."

Menzel's spot appears in little doubt though. He and his fellow forwards have found spark at the right time of the year, with Hawkins' six final-round goals especially ominous after an indifferent campaign.

"Hawky's been working really on his goalkicking, on his craft, on his forward 50 leading patterns and work," Menzel said.

"I think when our whole forward line is dangerous it means Hawk doesn't get two, three, four players on him. That's what we've been working on.

"If everyone else stands up and can contribute and at least be dangerous then it makes the game much easier for Hawky and that's the least we can do for him."

Geelong have developed a licorice all-sorts combination for this premiership tilt. There are the comeback kids (Menzel and Cowan), the veterans (Bartel, Enright, Taylor and Lonergan), the much-travelled   (Sam Menegola), and the foreign legion (Henderson, Smith, Josh Caddy, Rhys Stanley and, of course, Dangerfield).

It's not exactly list management orthodoxy, but it might be about to deliver. And as shown by a recent exchange between Menzel and Brownlow medal shoe-in Dangerfield, they have their priorities right.

"I did say to [Dangerfield] after the [Melbourne] game, 'the most important thing today is you didn't get reported.' He just laughed," Menzel said.

"He's been incredible for us this year. It's just great playing with him. He's such a good team player as well.  I really enjoy playing with him. I'd be surprised if he didn't win it. But I'm sure he'd prefer a premiership medal to be honest. It'd be nice to get both for him!"