Sydney Swans recruit Dan Menzel undergoes groin surgery and won’t resume training until February

New Swan Dan Menzel started feeling soreness from his first session at his new club. And now Sydney has sent the former Cat in for surgery in the hope he’ll be fit for the start of the 2019 season.

New Sydney recruit Daniel Menzel has been forced to undergo groin surgery only weeks into his stint as a Swan.

The Swans confirmed to the Herald Sun that Menzel had last week undergone surgery after pulling up sore in early training sessions.

Menzel began feeling groin pain from his first session with the Swans, who believed early surgery was preferable to the injury lingering all summer.

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It is understood the surgery is similar to the groin release surgery that Sydney star Lance Franklin underwent after returning to pre-season training still sore from a September injury.

The Swans are not ruling out a Round 1 Sydney debut for Menzel but he will only return to training some time in February.

Dan Menzel’s time at the Swans has started on a sour note. Picture. Phil Hillyard

It was a groin issue that derailed a white-hot start to his 2018 campaign, with Menzel having kicked 14 goals in four weeks before he began pulling up sore.

The 27-year-old then had injections into his groin which backfired disastrously, with Menzel making it back to football in Round 17 but enduring a quiet eight-possession final.

The Cats did not offer the four-time ACL victim a contract, with Sydney eventually snapping him up to play as a key forward alongside Franklin.

The hope was he could put in a massive pre-season and set himself up to play deep while Franklin eased back into football after his groin issues.

But if he does make Round 1 it will be with a severely limited pre-season.

Dan Menzel is eager to prove the doubters wrong. Picture. Phil Hillyard

He said two weeks ago he was determined to prove some of the critics wrong, always optimistic he would get a second chance at another club.

“To go through so much you’ve got to have confidence in yourself and back yourself and believe in yourself and I always thought I would get that opportunity,” he said.

Franklin injured his groin in Round 22 and played sore through the finals, kicking 0.1 in the elimination finals loss to GWS.

But a period of rest did not ease his symptoms so the Swans operated in mid-November.