COULD the reign of the intercept kings have come to a premature end?

By the looks of the opening two rounds of 2018, it sure looks like it.

Across Rounds 1 and 2, key forwards have been king, with intercept defenders punished as teams look to even up numbers in defence and force those players to be accountable.

On Thursday night, the Crows honed in on Alex Rance, to brilliant effect.

Finals Week 1

In the first half, Rance was caught one-on-one against Josh Jenkins a number of times, with the Crows forward taking full advantage, clunking marks and earning a free kick.

Josh Jenkins takes a contested mark against Alex Rance. Source: FOX SPORTS

While Rance was good enough to bounce back later in the game, the Crows’ approach paid dividends, with Jenkins’ first half setting the foundations for an important victory.

Generally, though, Rance has a one-up on his fellow intercept defenders, as he is also excellent one-on-one, whereas others tend to be more exposed when targeted one-on-one.

Melbourne recruit Jake Lever has really borne the brunt of this approach.

Last season, Lever led the competition for intercept possessions and intercept marks — but lost 37 per cent of his one-on-one contests, the fourth-worst loss rate of the top-50 players for contests, according to Champion Data.

While he is one of the finest intercept defenders in the competition Lever’s relatively poor one-on-one work has been exposed in the opening two games.

He has also averaged just three marks and four intercept possessions across his two games — last year he averaged 6.3 marks and 9.5 intercept possessions.

That said, Lever hasn’t been helped by Melbourne’s decision to play with just two key defenders — himself and Oscar McDonald — in the opening two rounds.

That has meant Lever has largely had to play one-on-one, rather than being able to float around, as he could do with Daniel Talia and Kyle Hartigan behind him at Adelaide.

In Round 1, Geelong exploited this brilliantly. With Lever matched up to Esava Ratugolea, the Cats made a point of playing through the 19-year-old at every opportunity.

It worked brilliantly, with Lever caught out on a number of occasions, especially early in the piece.

Jake Lever is caught out and has to track back from his aggressive position. Source: FOX SPORTS

Esava Ratugolea prepares to mark all but uncontested. Source: FOX SPORTS

Lever's spoil comes too late. Source: FOX SPORTS

While some of Melbourne’s midfield losses left the defender in awkward positions, Lever will clearly need to address his one-on-one work going forward.

Last year, Liam Jones returned to prominence with a dashing run of form in defence, where he dominated as an intercepting defender, cutting off opposition attacks with a combination of well-timed spoils and marks.

But on Saturday, Gold Coast star Tom Lynch put Jones to the sword — acutely aware the defender would look to play off him, and either marking in space or getting out the back for well-worked goals.

In these three different examples, Lynch catches out Jones when he overcommits to playing in front.

Liam Jones fumbles an attempted intercept and the ball carries to Lynch. Source: FOX SPORTS

The Suns get an easy entry and Tom Lynch marks uncontested. Jones is standing in front of Lynch, to the right. Source: FOX SPORTS

Jones (far right) overruns the ball and Lynch sneaks away out the back. Source: FOX SPORTS

Another factor in the difficulties facing intercept defenders is how reliant they are on their midfielders doing their bit. Winning the ball is the ideal outcome, as it allows the defence to set up aggressively, and prepare adequately for the ball exiting their attacking 50.

But if the Demons or Blues, for example, don’t cleanly exit their midfield, or lose the ball, here’s where things can change.

The onus is then on the midfielders to do the defensive work and put pressure on the opposition’s ball carriers. Forcing even a slight kicking error can open the door for intercept players like Lever and Jones to read the play and chop off a kick to the forwards.

But if that pressure isn’t there, those intercept defenders — who typically stand in an aggressive position — can get caught out either in no man’s land, standing well in front of a player or trailing their opponent on the lead.

In layman’s terms, defenders get stitched up.

This is a great example from Thursday night’s game.

With Shane Edwards losing the ball in midfield, the Crows are able to quickly transition through the centre of the park, and all Jenkins needs to do is catch Rance off guard.

A well-timed nudge from Jenkins is enough to lose Rance, and the Crow takes an easy mark on the lead.

Shane Edwards loses the ball in midfield. Source: FOX SPORTS

The Crows are out, with this upcoming long kick catching Rance off guard. Source: FOX SPORTS

Josh Jenkins marks on the lead. Source: FOX SPORTS

The problem here was the lack of pressure, which allowed the easy kick on the lead to Jenkins, whose body positioning gave him first dibs on the ball.

But the trend is clear — teams are out to catch intercept defenders off guard. If you lose the ball in the middle, or turn it over, expect the opposition to go through your intercept defender’s man. And if they’re not prepared for the one-on-one contest, things can get ugly.

Whether you’re the defender, or the midfield supporting them — you need to do the work, or prepare to get punished.