Joined: Jan 30 2004 Posts: 8116 Location: Never never land away with the fairies
carl_spackler wrote:There are some who put the hours in though, Taylor has been known to mention it when asked about it in interviews. Only at the weekend he mentioned Klaasen being in the practice rooms after being knocked out, and he's said similar of King and Anderson working hard on their game in the past few tournaments.
But do they do it enough, all day everyday like Taylor does or just put a little bit extra in before a tournament.
Think your right in regards the attitudes of some players and mentally already being beaten at the thought of Taylor. I remember not that long ago Taylor himself in an interview said when asked why he thought he was so difficult to beat that he felt alot of the players just dont put enough in away from the tournaments.
I really enjoy long walks especially when they are taken by people I don't like!
espanyolswan wrote:Would not say the list of possible winners (or even finalists) in majors is that long to be fair and Jenkins for one seems on the slippery slope that sent Manley, Mardle and Part out of big time darts. A lot of players do not play on TV as they do in floor events (Osbourne, Caven and Walsh probably being the players most suceptable) and the likes of Lloyd, Painter, Hamilton and Lewis although capable of performing on the big stage fall into the same problem as those already mentioned when they face Taylor (or to a lesser extent face a Wade or a Barney).
I still think that list of players can challenge for the TV majors without a doubt. They are all good enough, we've all seen on tele how good they can be. Painter just keeps meeting Taylor around the quarters and goes out, he showed in 2004? when he should have been World Champion, only for Taylor's ton plus finish. I do think we have a good healthy number of players that can compete for finals and titles.
espanyolswan wrote:I guess alot of sport's success is how mentally confident and prepared you are but I still think that big money being there for just making last 8's and such like does not help as players can make a great living without going that extra yard and having a real winning mentality.
Taylor's biggest pet hate by the sounds of it, everytime he's interviewed and asked about the younger players he always says how he he feels they can earn a very good living without having to push themselves to success.
espanyolswan wrote:This era could well be looked at as a golden one even ignoring Taylor and the lack of new blood and young talent coming through has to be a worry as Lewis and Nicholson (though who claims credit for his Australian appretiship is open to debate) are probably the only 2 PDC success stories as every other "name" has taken the BDO route and for the moment Chisnall apart maybe, even importing people from there will not change things in terms of new potential stars.
The way it's been for many years though isn't it mate, firstly all of the top stars obviously played BDO early days but virtually all of the newer blood (Barney, Klaasen, King, Whitlock) have all recently made the switch, the reason Barry Hearn wanted to buy the BDO, maybe he thinks it's easier than creating his own grassroots for the PDC. BDO still remains the feeder group.
espanyolswan wrote:Not all of those got in by wild card either and I think the fact Jenkins is probably still over a year and a half away from dropping out of the top 5 or 6 when it seems his heart is not in it anymore is a fault on the rankings and perhaps if it was a one not two year system the likes of Mardle, Manley and Part might not have slided out so dramatically and might have been able to fight through a downturn in fortunes and get back in the right direction. Perhaps a much more volatile rankings table is what is needed as I doubt it would effect the very top end but it could create much more competiveness lower down and not shoot players into oblivion which they can see coming a year in advance so lose confidence and form even more dramatically and others can see due reward for their efforts (and I am not talking in money terms) when they hit a purple patch and hopefully some can kick on from their as Whitlock has done.
They are changing the entries for the PL now though mate, without looking I'm sure it's top four now qualify automatically and the other four places are now wildcard, unfortunately.
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Dan_FC wrote: They are changing the entries for the PL now though mate, without looking I'm sure it's top four now qualify automatically and the other four places are now wildcard, unfortunately.
Just looked it up and you are right. It even more diminishes the rankings (and to be fair Top 4 is a different planet to where most of the players currently in and around the Top 20 can aspire to) and it will be a case of your face fits rather than getting anywhere on merit.
Even stranger is 2 of the WildCards are chosen by the PDC but the other two are chosen by Sky Sports which is Bizzare in the extreme and something I can not think of happening in any other sport. It could well be where they want to sell the rights to broadcast it or where they might want to stage Premier League abroad (I think Holland will host one in the not too distant future) that will dictate who gets invited and I guess it's their event and they can do what they like with it but there were lots of empty seats at most nights of the last Premier League (Nottingham in particular had a tiny crowd for the last night of group games) and they are in danger of wrecking one of the most casual fan friendly formats the sport has got.
As long as the Premier League is something like: Taylor, Wade, Barney, Lewis, Nicholson, Whitlock, Klaasen, Baxter/Anderson it will be fine, Anderson will pull the crowds in for the Scottish nights and will make the arenas very loud, Nicholson to be the token "bad guy".
Joined: Feb 20 2007 Posts: 10540 Location: Hunting Gopher
Chris71 wrote:But do they do it enough, all day everyday like Taylor does or just put a little bit extra in before a tournament.
Think your right in regards the attitudes of some players and mentally already being beaten at the thought of Taylor. I remember not that long ago Taylor himself in an interview said when asked why he thought he was so difficult to beat that he felt alot of the players just dont put enough in away from the tournaments.
Well in the case of Klaasen, he was actually saying about the fact he was practicing to get ready for the next tournament, even though the matchplay hadn't even finished yet. It's a tough call how much practice is right though anyway, really. It's the quality that counts. It just strikes me that Taylor has found the routine that works for him and rigidly sticks to it, that's the dedication that counts. As you say, some of the others possibly just focus on when tournaments come around.
I think the biggest thing Taylor now has going for him isn't the practice, it's how relaxed and confident he is on the big stage. He's so at ease with it all he's able to play his best darts where others buckle under the pressure.
Joined: Feb 20 2007 Posts: 10540 Location: Hunting Gopher
Gaslight wrote:As long as the Premier League is something like: Taylor, Wade, Barney, Lewis, Nicholson, Whitlock, Klaasen, Baxter/Anderson it will be fine, Anderson will pull the crowds in for the Scottish nights and will make the arenas very loud, Nicholson to be the token "bad guy".
Anderson should be in on playing merit anyway. If he could get his doubles up to around 30-40% consistently, he'd be in the Barneveld/Wade/Whitlock class IMO.
I'm still yet to be impressed by Nicholson. It was a very good result to beat Taylor and understandably got a lot of attention, but IMO he doesn't string enough performances together. If he was to get a Premier League place in a lineup similar to what you mention, I'd fancy him to finish bottom fairly easily. Acting like a dick shouldn't be enough for him to be included.
Up the Dons wrote:Very true Dan...to be honest i do most of my posting on a darts group on FB these days..but im going to start posting on here more as i miss your opinions and guys like Dave Lister, Mister Lee..hope he is still around.
I had a go on the PDC darts FB page but it was actually too busy for my liking and too many idiots
king warrior wrote:Dave do us a favour and gtfo you wopper
Mistah Lee wrote:I'm still here fella, though not posted much. It's gone a bit boring now since me and Dave Lister don't argue anymore!
Agree with you in a way that the PDC is getting a bit boring now. There are still some fantastic matches but the tournament always ends with the same result; Taylor blowing everyone away. Yes, he is the greatest player ever, yes he is playing at the top of his game at the moment, but I can't believe there isn't one person that can even bother to attempt to give him a game.
As Chris71 said, Taylor is known for constant practising, striving to make himself better, but could the same be said for some of his challengers? As he said in his post, James Wade has said he should practice a bit more than he should (probably Helen Chamberlain's fault!! ). Wonder if any other players put in the effort that Taylor does? I doubt it.
I agree with all you say this time too. However, Chamberlain has binned Wade off
king warrior wrote:Dave do us a favour and gtfo you wopper
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