ANZ Premier League Finals Night To Decide World Darts Championship Spot

After seven nights, the first ever ANZ Premier League, the biggest initiative in Australian darts since PDC came to Australia during the first World Series of Darts is set to end in Brisbane. Eight players took part but they have been whittled down to just four places, and the winner is set to go to the World Championship, kind of, that will be explained shortly.

ANZ Premier League will reach it's conclusion in Brisbane

After beginning in front of 2,500 people at Melbourne's John Cain Arena, this darts party has travelled around Australia with a stop over in New Zealand. Now, they head to Brisbane. The two winningest players coming into this event was Raymond Smith and Jonny Tata.

Smith, representing Australia, made a massive run to WDF World Cup Open Singles Final in Korea losing the final to Franko Giuliani (check out Josh Tonini's article on Smith's run here). Tata finished top of DPNZ Pro Tour order of merit winning the last event and hitting a nine-dart finish in the final. Proving their form on the opening night in Melbourne, Tata and Smith made the final of night one, with Tata taking the night. They each took two nights of the first seven with nights also being won by Tim Pusey, Ben Robb and Brody Klinge. But the first night of action turns out to be a pretty good forecast with Smith and Tata finishing the top two.

Simon Whitlock has the main draw for this event

The only player who didn't have to qualify for the tournament was Simon Whitlock. The 2012 European Championship and twice a World Championship finalist, lost his tour card at the start of the year. Whitlock has not done a lot of winning this year, having lost his card and not winning his week at Modus Super Series. But, he has been fairly consistent through this campaign following his first night lost to Joe Comito. He & Comito didn't win a regular season night but he won enough quarter-finals and indeed semi-finals to finish third, while Comito finished last failing to win another game.

The fourth of the four to play in Brisbane will be Tim Pusey. His has been strong all year on the DPA and ADA circuits. A crowd favourite who has lapped up this experience had a slow start. But a strong second half helped by more preferable quarter-final matches saw him pick up the night six title and squeeze into the last night of action. He finished just two points (the amount awarded for winning a nightly quarter-final) ahead of Brody Klinge.

Raymond Smith at 2022 PDC World Darts Championship where he made the fourth round

Pusey & Smith have played each other several times this year on the ADA tour. They met in the finals in ADA event 1, 2, 4 and 10, the first three won by Smith and last event by Pusey. Over the first seven nights, Smith has the highest three-dart average of 90.12. 47% of his visits scored 100 or more. If someone wants to get the better of Smith they are going to have to match the level he has been playing at throughout this campaign. Pusey, who faces Smith in the first semi-final, might be the one as he is the biggest 180 hitter in this tournament at 4.1% compared to 3.8%.

In the second semi-final, Tata will take on Whitlock. Whitlock has been the second biggest 180 hitter in this tournament at 4.8% (Klinge leads at 5.1%), but Tata has been finding trebles with more regularity. Tata has scored 100-139 on 38% of visits to Whitlock's 33%. The big difference between these two players during the ANZ Premier League is doubles. Whitlock is 30% on finishing compared to Tata's 35%. Whitlock will have to be sharper on the outer ring and ponce when Tata misses.

Jonny Tata will be the sole New Zealander to play in Brisbane

The big incentive for winning this tournament, other than going down in the history book as the first winner of this event is to qualify for a World Championship. Now, this is where things get complicated. The PDC doesn't run the only World Darts Championship. The first was held in 1978 by the now-defunct British Darts Organisation. In 1992, the top 16 players broke away due to frustrations over how the BDO were running the sport. The rebel's held their first World Championship in 1994 and this saga is known as the split in darts. There was a truce by way of a Tomlin Order in 1997 which allowed players to compete in any tournaments they liked but only one of the rival world championships. While the BDO was liquidated in 2020, the World Darts Federation has been, in effect, running the rival World Championship since 2022. As a result, if a player qualifies for both PDC and WDF World Championship, they must pick one.

Smith, who made the last 16 at 2022 PDC World Championship, has over and over again announced his commitment to WDF event held at Lakeside. Furthermore, as winners of the DPNZ and ADA tours, Tata and Pusey respectively are already qualified. If they qualify the runner-ups in their tours would likely get the spot. Klinge finished 3rd, behind Smith, in ADA rankings and Robb finished second in the DPNZ rankings. I say "likely" because don't discount a sporting body changing things at the last minute to get a preferred outcome. The best case for everyone is to hope Simon Whitlock wins the title, that would mean everyone would save face.

Regardless of what happens, this tournament has gone well. The PDC wanted an atmosphere like the European Premier League and they got it. The crowds have been fairly strong, especially in the seated areas. If this event happens again, and it almost certainly will, it will be interesting to see what happens. Could we see a change in venues, qualification criteria, additional incentives such as a spot at the expanded Grand Slam of Darts? Time will tell. But for one of Smith, Tata, Whitlock and Pusey they'll get the chance to do something no one else can claim in the future, be the first ANZ Premier League champion.