Quote Dan_FC="Dan_FC"I had wondered where you'd gone to be honest mate, everytime this thread got going when a tournament came up you wern't around. Out of interest what's the name of the group on FB you post on, might join that. It's nice to have discussion with people who not only enjoy but are knowledgeable about darts. We've had many discussions about Manley/Part in the past.
To be honest I think the only thing lacking in darts now is different players winning the majors. Taylor and Barney aside, the PDC boast the likes of King, Wade, Jenkins, Lewis, Whitlock, LLoyd, Hamilton, Osbourne, Anderson, Painter, Nicholson, Klaasen - IMO anyone of these players are capable of winning a TV major and there's a hell of a lot more besides these who are also capable of throwing a challenge down. We've now got the best group of darts players we've ever been able to watch. A few years ago people would never have dreamed of a 9 darter, now we expect to see multiple 9 darters in a tournament. 100 plus averages are now expected, it's unbelievable how the game's developed, if we can get a few different winners of these majors we can definately have that golden period back.'"
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 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.
The only players I'd really rate consistantly in big events are Taylor, Barney and Wade (though both tend to lose interest too easily and let outside factors effect their game), King (when he does not get agitated by the crowd) and Whitlock with Anderson the next in line as he improves getting used to the more volatile atmosphere in PDC rather than BDO terms (a season in the Premier League should see him right up there pitching).
If the likes of Hamilton, Osbourne, Lewis, Klassen, Painter etc were really going to be there fighting towards the end of tournaments I think they would have showed that by now.
Lloyd is a slightly different case as he had his glory year or so and perhaps that is dragging him down that others have moved so far ahead when his game has basically stayed at a similar level and in this day and age the averages and performances he was putting in to win tournaments might get you Quarter Finals at best.
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.
I think the top 6 or so is likely to be very static in the next few years (Taylor, Wade, Barney, King, Whitlock and Anderson) but who make up the other 2 Premier League places or whoever finds themselves at 7 and 8 in the rankings will hopefully have to get there by making finals and beating big names but I fear that will not be the case and it will be a rotation most years where someone who has a slightly better year than the rest gets the chance of the exposure and glory of the league and then does nothing with it in future tournaments as I'd suggest happened to Klassen and Baxter recently and futher back Scholten and to a lesser degree Mardle and Manley (who it can be argued were there at times more for personality than performance).
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.
