Chatting Bull with Dan Dawson - Issue #002
Sport is a meritocracy - the best players win the most stuff. It is why we have tournaments. We are interested in seeing who beats whom to prevail. When a player’s career is done and dusted, you can tot-up all the trophies, medals and money they have accumulated, and decide that Player X was better than Player Y.
Except it isn't always like that… you need a bit of luck too.
There are countless examples of players needing slices of fortune along the way, and had they not had it, who knows whether they would have become as great as they did?
Rob Cross famously survived match darts twice (against Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen) on the way to his debut World Championship victory. Had he not won that, would he have been able to add three more majors since?
But it is not simply needing a bit of fortune during matches that counts, when you hit your peak form matters too. Adrian Lewis is widely regarded as one of the most talented players in history, but at the time of writing he has four major titles. His back-to-back World Championship wins cement him in the sport’s history, but his major title haul is half that of Peter Wright and Gary Anderson (both two time World Champs themselves).
“Jackpot” did not have great fortune about the timing of his brilliance though - with Taylor at his peak consistently denying him silverware, and latterly Michael van Gerwen’s dominance denying him further. If Adrian emerged right now, he might be viewed as a player who could dominate the sport for several years and win two or three times the number of major titles that he has thus far.
That is because right now there is a vacuum at the top of the game. The strength in depth has never been greater, with more players capable of throwing 100 averages not just for single matches on television, but entire tournaments. Yet there is no figure at the very top, setting the benchmark for everyone else.
With the news last week that the greatest of them all, Phil Taylor, has announced he will be retiring, it is worth remembering just how astonishing The Power's achievements were. Setting the standard as the undisputed best for well over a decade is something we are unlikely to see again.
Luke Humphries has just won his first three major titles, at the Grand Prix, the Grand Slam and the Players Championships, and we may be entering an era where he could become the leading light in the sport. “Cool Hand” has all the ingredients to be enormously successful - ferocious scoring power, a burning desire to win, and a level-headed maturity to his game. Scarily, he could get even better as well. Whatever he wins (and I think he will win a lot more than he already has), he will have earned it - but without either “The Power”or “Mighty Mike” at their merciless bests, hoovering up half of the tournament wins for themselves, this is the right time to reach the peak of your powers.
This month, we have an extra treat from Dan. He found some time with semi-finalist Stephen Bunting on stage at the Grand Slam to get an insight into his meteoric rise on TikTok… As our valued newsletter subscriber, we are giving you an exclusive first look:
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Issue #002 Quiz Answers
1) 12g
2) Circus Tavern
3) Dimitri Van den Bergh
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