Melbourne and Gold Coast added to ANZ Darts Premier League fixture as Cairns and Hamilton depart from 8-night darts party down under

The great sporting cities of Melbourne and the Gold Coast will come to life this Spring with now being added to the list of host venues at the PDC ANZ Darts Premier League, confirmed to feature in two of the eight action-packed nights scheduled to take place across Australia and New Zealand in October.

Excitingly for Victorians, Darts returns for the first time since the 2019 Melbourne Darts Masters, where Michael van Gerwen defeated Daryl Gurney 8–3 in the final.

The first leg of the tournament will now kick off in the heart of Melbourne at John Cain Arena on October 4, with Gold Coast set to stage round seven at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on November 15.  As a result of these venue inclusions, Hamilton and Cairns have now been canned due to “unforeseen circumstances”. Disappointingly for the Kiwis, with Hamilton now departing, this only sees New Zealand featuring in just one of the eight nights in the tournament, with TSB Arena in Wellington staging the sixth night on November 8.

John Cain Arena will host the first round of the premier league on October 4.

Australian darts legend Simon Whitlock has been announced as the first participant in the league in what will no doubt be a star-studded lineup of non-tour card holders in October, with all players aiming to earn themselves a place in the PDC 2025/26 World Championships at the Alexandra Palace, where the Top 4 players will battle it out on finals night at the conclusion of the event at Nissan Arena in Brisbane, on November 22 to earn that spot in the biggest tournament on the PDC Calendar. Whitlock has played plenty of darts as of late, having recently taken part at the World Seniors, with his campaign unfortunately ending in early disappointment as he was knocked out by stalwart of the game Paul Hogan 3-1 in the first round on his debut.

Simon Whitlock raises the trophy alongside Damon Heta in the World Cup of Darts in 2022.  

In addition, Simon also featured at the MODUS Super Series in Portsmouth in Week 10 of Series 11 last week, where he battled it out through Group A to make it to finals night. Unfortunately, Simon’s run ended early on the Saturday Night where he went down to David Davies 4-0 and Jimmy van Schie 4-1 in Group 1, with Davies winning the night to progress to champions week in three weeks time to earn £25000. His son Mason also played earlier in Series 7, playing against the likes of two-time seniors champion Robert Thornton at the live lounge. Simon and Mason are expected to both suit up to represent Australia in the MODUS Super Series “international pairs week” which commences in just under a month.

Simon Whitlock alongside his son Mason Whitlock and commentator Laura Turner at the MODUS Super Series.

In further exciting news, Russ “The Voice” Bray has been confirmed to referee the fixtures across the 8 weeks, with PDC sources highlighting that he will assist the Australian & New Zealand referees across the tournament. Bray is known for his iconic “180” call, in which darts fanatics across Australia & New Zealand will be eagerly waiting to hear on the first Saturday of October.

Bray will feature as a highly-respected and known referee during the tournament.

This exciting new tournament aims to grow the game down under and to actively shed some light on the quality of non-tour card holders in Australia and New Zealand, in which all will look to claim the golden ticket to the World Championship in London around the Christmas period. Further details regarding the remaining players, fixturing and other information is yet to be announced.