The footy frenzy is back.

That strange twilight zone like experience where there is a game every night, seemingly at any hour of the day. Thirty-two games crunched into 18 or so days.

The inaugural footy frenzy was a learning experience.

We learned that it paid to check your calendar regularly. School night footy; Sunday night footy. Anything is possible during the frenzy. Got the right time zone? When are the teams out? When is Front Bar on?

Planning a work meeting for a Thursday afternoon? You best be careful, Dianne from the office can turn a 10-minute WIP into an hour-long TED talk…you’ll miss the first half of the footy.

It pays to be prepared during the footy frenzy, as the regular ebb and flow of a week is turned on its head.

Whatever the vice you enjoy while watching the footy – and let’s face it, hard liquor has been called for in 2020 – there is little time to restock between matches. Consume a week’s worth of sarsaparilla while you’re watching Thursday arvo footy, and you will need to be ready to go again by Tuesday. You’ve got to stay on top of these things. You don’t want to run short on barbeque shapes at quarter time.

With the learnings from the first frenzy under our belt, I’m confident that we are better prepared for our final footy frenzy for the year.

On the field, frenzy number one delivered for the Swans. It saw us challenge Collingwood and crush the Giants. But the challenges of frenzy two appear immense. The rising Dees and Blues and the ladder leading Lions and Cats to close things out.

But if you’re only as good as your last half of football, then things are bright for the Swans as they continue their great Australian odyssey this week in Cairns.

While outgunned early by Port Adelaide on Saturday, the plucky Swans did outscore the Power in the second half. Perhaps that’s a glass half full look at things, but surely this is a season where everyone’s glass should be full.

In tough times, the footy should be our escape from half empty glasses.

So rather than this footy frenzy being a fast way to close out a tough 2020 season, it can be a valuable launching pad to a bigger, better 2021.

The next four games can be for nothing; or they can be invaluable development opportunities for our young team.

We can tune out because the losses are hard to take; or we can tune in because we are grateful and proud that our team travelled the country to put a season on, when it would have been easier to call it off.

So set your reminders for a 4:40 start on Thursday afternoon, fill your glasses and strap yourself in for the footy frenzy. What a way to end an unprecedented year!