World Darts Championship 2026

[MerchantOfEnnis]

Premier League 2026 -

Littler
Humphries
MvG
Rock
Clayton
Van Veen
Price
Bunting

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

I agree. One thing that the expanded format showed us is that there is a lot of talent out that that nobody has ever heard of. Only a matter of time before one of them turns out to be the next Littler

I think I said this last month around the start of the tournament that imo Littler will do well to play in 16 world championships not to mind win 16 cause the Brits and the media are building him up to break him. If the socials are anything to go by there is a line of talent coming.
Littler got an unbelievably soft draw this year and wasn’t pushed or pressured. MVG, Barney, Phil and even Rob Cross at their peak in finals would have beaten this years Littler.

 

[knockfiarna]

I think I said this last month around the start of the tournament that imo Littler will do well to play in 16 world championships not to mind win 16 cause the Brits and the media are building him up to break him. If the socials are anything to go by there is a line of talent coming.
Littler got an unbelievably soft draw this year and wasn’t pushed or pressured. MVG, Barney, Phil and even Rob Cross at their peak in finals would have beaten this years Littler.

Re draw , yes he did get easy draw.
Hard to say when you compare previous greats , for instance peak littler would easily beat any of the above if they were not firing.
Littler to me seems like he thrives under pressure , if his opponent is hitting trebles then he is well able respond. Look at van veen in sf he was incredible but once he threatened to make it 2 legs to nil in final (led 2_0 in legs 2nd set) , littler upped the anti, nearly every leg started with a max and van veen wilted under that barrage.

 

[Maw Maw]

God how did Bunting make it

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

Re draw , yes he did get easy draw.
Hard to say when you compare previous greats , for instance peak littler would easily beat any of the above if they were not firing.
Littler to me seems like he thrives under pressure , if his opponent is hitting trebles then he is well able respond. Look at van veen in sf he was incredible but once he threatened to make it 2 legs to nil in final (led 2_0 in legs 2nd set) , littler upped the anti, nearly every leg started with a max and van veen wilted under that barrage.

True but in an individual activity like darts where it’s you and the equipment you can compare scoring stats and that’s where Littler is short of the others right now. He has potential to be the goat if he keeps producing and improving but his darts up to now are simply nowhere near peak Taylor or MVG. That’s the numbers and all the top players and pundits say this. It’s only this week that most darts gurus would have put Littler in the Top 5 of all time discussion, but he has to do a bit more yet to pass the likes of Gary and Barney overall.
VV was just visibly exhausted in the final as many of the experts said he would be because of his difficult run to final.

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

This popped up on my you tube feed.

Pure class

 

[Gregory_Mike]

Premier League 2026 -

Littler
Humphries
MvG
Rock
Clayton
Van Veen
Price
Bunting

As most expected with the exception of Bunting. Would have had Noppert instead.

 

[Gregory_Mike]

This popped up on my you tube feed.

Pure class

Huge mistake from Eric, laying up.

Who says players in the old days couldn't play?

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

Huge mistake from Eric, laying up.

Who says players in the old days couldn't play?

Its mostly nonsense about the standards being higher these days. Chris Mason (by far the best pundit imo) talks about how the equipment is literally light years ahead of where it was back in the old timers days. He said it adds ten percent to the averages and the likes of Bristow, Jocky, Lowe and co would have been fine if they were around today.

Also, Mathew Edgar, an ex PDC tour card holder has an excellent darts channel on you tube. Last year he did a video comparing the averages now and ten years ago or so. The averages at the very top were better back then when it was MVG, Phil, Lewis and Ando on top, but now there's more players capable of pushing their average up to 100+ on any given day were the gist of his findings.

Prime Phil, Prime MVG and Prime Ando beat the top 4 now at their very best imo. Saying that, Littler does have a very high ceiling and may eventually surpass them all. Or he could be retired by 30

Who knows?

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

Its mostly nonsense about the standards being higher these days. Chris Mason (by far the best pundit imo) talks about how the equipment is literally light years ahead of where it was back in the old timers days. He said it adds ten percent to the averages and the likes of Bristow, Jocky, Lowe and co would have been fine if they were around today.

Also, Mathew Edgar, an ex PDC tour card holder has an excellent darts channel on you tube. Last year he did a video comparing the averages now and ten years ago or so. The averages at the very top were better back then when it was MVG, Phil, Lewis and Ando on top, but now there's more players capable of pushing their average up to 100+ on any given day were the gist of his findings.

Prime Phil, Prime MVG and Prime Ando beat the top 4 now at their very best imo. Saying that, Littler does have a very high ceiling and may eventually surpass them all. Or he could be retired by 30

Who knows?

Good post. It was discussed here at the start of the tournament how different the boards are now. Very few bounce outs nowadays a d the wires are far thinner. The doubles bed is now 14% bigger than what it was pre PDC.