The Buck Stops Here: The contenders are all showing this trait, Fagan's conundrum, fresh faces and more

Round 7 has come and gone, leaving us with plenty to discuss.

Former Collingwood coach and superstar Nathan Buckley has put together his takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.

On his mind this week is a new trend seen by the best teams, a Carlton star, an important decision looming for Chris Fagan and more.

Read his thoughts below:

A new trend from the contenders

“My main point this morning is around the way the game is played. I reckon the flood is back,” Buckley began on SEN Breakfast.

“It used to be a term, a derogatory term around protecting your back half and parking the bus and not allowing the opposition to score but the flood is back and I think the Geelong and Carlton game showed it more than any other.

“Potentially, I think the teams that are doing this are giving themselves the best chance to contend.

“I think Chris Scott has got more than one arrow in his quiver. There’s no doubt Geelong has always been a defence first side. So at stoppage, they will always set up with an extra number and we saw time and time again, in a fast turnover or stoppage loss, Geelong always had an extra number around Harry McKay or Charlie Curnow.  

“Sometimes it was a defender, sometimes it was a winger… they’re still a very high pressure side, Geelong, but they’re joining Sydney, GWS, Melbourne and Fremantle as sides who don’t need to win the inside 50 count by huge numbers to have a significant gap in the scoring.”

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Fages has a big management decision on his hands  

“I recognise where Chris Fagan is at. The work that he’s done with the group, the commitment he’s shown this group, the success they’ve had…

“The conversations that will take place in the four walls at Brisbane and have been taking place, Fagan is a coach that has put himself at the same level as his players and has put his trust and faith in them.

“I think it has largely been the right move, you can’t criticize it. I think the old-school coach was the coach who stayed above and told players what to do, discipline them heavily… I think the modern coach has come a little bit more to trust and have faith and to walk with your senior players a little more than you would have done in yesteryear and I think Fages has done that especially well.

“The problem is what do you do now? When your players aren’t giving you the necessary effort… eventually your message wears thin and there have to be repercussions

“There has to be selection repercussions. Chris Fagan has to separate himself in some shape or form from this tight connection he has with his existing leaders.”

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Fresh faces making an early impact

“Dimma Hardwick is actually coaching what is pretty much a man-on-man defence. He spoke about uncontested marks, they had nearly 50 in the first half but less than 30 in the second.

“That’s obviously a key metric for the way Gold Coast are going about it and that simplifies the way you defend, it pulls the game into contest as much as you can.

“But it comes back down to work rate and work ethic being high, so he’s getting into his players to bring that to the table.

“When you see players like Jake Rogers and Darcy Jones (at GWS) coming in and playing their roles so early, it just shows you that if you can stock pick… you can find players who can make a substantial difference very quicky.

“They’re very impressive young men hitting the competition so early.”