The former Geelong and Sydney AFL star shares a common bond with the South East Melbourne NBL sharpshooter, equal parts devastating and triumphant.
Two elite athletes, seven devastating, life-altering knee injuries.
Menzel booted 143 goals across 80 games, spanning nine seasons from 2010-19. During a final in September 2011, his knee gave out.
Glover, the freak athlete from Wollongong, was a teen on the path to the NBA when he was dealt the first of three cruel blows – Two before his 20th birthday.
The second struck in 2019, days before one of the most prestigious youth tournaments in the world, the Nike Hoops Summit.
Ask most specialists and they’d tell you neither had any business being back on a professional sport stage. Menzel’s had the LARS graft in, then out, then in again.
Glover sprints up and down the court with his dad’s hamstring masquerading as his left anterior cruciate ligament.
What some deem impossible is always possible, in Menzel’s eyes – and that possible becoming reality is the real kicker that can change others’ lives.
“One of the best things with Gus’s story is not just that he was able to overcome these injuries, in his case three of them, but to actually play and perform at the level he is at and to reach a milestone like that,” Menzel, whose business Mental Toughness, Mental Fortitude, helps athletes of all levels navigate serious injury, said.
“A lot of people have the challenge and the doubt of if they’ll ever even return to playing.
“Then it’s ‘can you perform at that level?’
“To have someone like Gussy, who’s done it and can actually show that, that’s what really gives hope for other players and other individuals that do go through these setbacks.
“It is a constant mental battle. So to be able to have the continuity that he has had and the consistency over a long period of time, these are the stories that I absolutely love.”
After Glover’s third reconstruction, in 2021 while he was at Illawarra, a text arrived on his phone from an unfamiliar number.
It was Menzel.
“Just the fact he reached out when he didn’t have to is enough for me,” Glover told this masthead.
“What he’d come back from, to hear that, that gives you hope and it shows you what is possible.”
Menzel’s gesture came years after Aussie coaching doyen Rob Beveridge had connected Glover with seven-time NBL defensive player of the year Damian Martin.
As a teen, Martin – whose DNA is evident in the way Glover plays and carries himself – had ruptured his Achilles, then, in his NBL rookie season, wrecked his knee. The two struck up a relationship as Martin became a sounding board for the youngster over many years.
He distinctly remembers his sunken heart when learning of Glover’s third ACL rupture, getting straight on the phone to talk basketball, mindset and resilience as his protege faced another long path back.
“The last thing most youngsters would want to do is take phone calls with someone to talk about the injuries they’ve just gone through,” Martin said.
“This 200 should be celebrated like anyone’s playing 400.”
Martin’s kindness, Menzel’s out-of-the-blue message and the countless people who gave of themselves to Glover during his hardest times are the impetus of a chain reaction.
He needed people like them to help him navigate the brutal mental and physical journey back to health.
Now, he is becoming that person for others.
Sometimes, it is a parent whose teenager has just ruptured an ACL. Sometimes it’s someone trying to navigate their own rehabilitation. Between training, games and airport departures, Glover tries to make time for them all.
“It would be a disservice of me to not reply or reach out back because I was in their shoes once,” Glover said.
“I’ve started to do some public speaking regarding my journey and trying to inspire others to overcome adversity.
“My story is obviously through the basketball route and sport route, but you can use that story in so many different ways.
“That’s something I’m going to deep dive more into hopefully when I’m towards the end of my career and when I finish.”
Using his story to help others doesn’t mean he wants his career defined by it.
There’s another aspect to Glover’s journey, far less told.
Martin remembers a young Glover blowing by defenders like they were parking cones and dunking on opponents with ease.
He’s still athletic, but his weapon of choice comes further away from the basket, the fiery red-head admitting it’s unlikely he’d be one of the best three-point shooters in the country, had he not suffered through those knee injuries.
Unable to do much on the court during rehab, Glover would just sit on a chair and shoot, working on his form, learning his body and mechanics.
The past two seasons have been Glover’s best basketball. A role player for most of his career, the 194cm two-way swingman is now a key cog for the Phoenix, leading the team in plus-minus.
And yet, He remains unsatisfied.
Makes sense – three knee reconstructions couldn’t stop him from coming back, now he wants to make the most of it — just as Menzel did, years before.
“I got drafted as an 18-year-old to the Geelong Cats and, played three games my first year, played 18 my second year as a 19-year-old but, in my first final for the Cats I tore my ACL,” Menzel, now 35 and still running around in local footy, remembers.
“I didn’t play an AFL game for 1450 days after that, subsequently did three more ACLs, did four in total and so basically from the age of 19 to 23, didn’t play and had real struggles physically and much more mentally.
“I had to put my career on hold but, post my four ACL reconstructions, similar to Gussy’s story, I played another 58 games.
“It was an absolute a grind but there’s also the perspective around that, to be able to play some reasonable football in that time is something that I definitely look for in others who have gone through similar situations.”
Originally published as ‘Shows what is possible’: Ex-AFL star Dan Menzel’s pride in Angus Glover’s 200th game milestone as pair share bond over seven devastating knee injuries