Mitch Duncan has faith in Daniel Menzel's nine lives Mitch Duncan believes his Cats teammate Daniel Menzel can make a second comeback from a knee injury. YOUNG gun Mitch Duncan has backed Daniel Menzel to fight back from his latest knee setback to play a "pivotal" part in the Cats' season. Menzel will miss the bulk of Geelong's NAB Cup campaign after re-injuring his left knee during some twisting work at training last month. It is the same knee he had reconstructed in June last year. The 21-year-old underwent an arthroscopic procedure to repair the damage just before Christmas and is no certainty to be fit for Round 1. Geelong has maintained it will take absolutely no risks with Menzel, meaning he may not be seen until several rounds into the season. Duncan said Menzel's mental resilience would ensure the luckless Cat returned a more complete player. "Obviously it's a hard time for Dan," Duncan said. You see (Anthony) Morabito go down again as well, which is very unfortunate. I played with him and what's happened is pretty sad. I'm sure Menz is going to come out bigger and better and mentally stronger because he's had to overcome a couple of setbacks now. We're going to help him through that and so is the club, and he's going to come out the other side and get the best out of himself. If we can get Menz back, he could play a pivotal role in our success. Menzel recently tweeted: "Recovering well from my op on my knee to stabilise my ACL; still remain very confident in my body! Thanks for all the support once again. Menzel is stuck on 21 AFL games and has a family history of knee issues, with brother and Carlton draftee Troy undergoing LARS surgery as a junior.