Performing in the prestigious Premier League is, without exaggeration, a gilded pinnacle in any PDC professional’s existence. An opportunity the highly talented Josh Rock would have dreamt of. Now of course, it’s a reality.
To stride into cavernous arenas, to duel with the aristocracy of tungsten beneath incandescent lighting, to do so week after week across a relentless three-month continental odyssey – it is both privilege and pressure distilled into its purest form. Yet for all its grandeur, this travelling coliseum can just as ruthlessly erode as it can exalt.
The danger creeps in quietly. An early exit. A handshake too soon. The slow trudge from stage to backstage. When that pattern begins to repeat itself, the psychological sediment accumulates. Confidence does not evaporate in a blaze – it erodes incrementally, replaced by intrusive doubt and the oppressive monotony of weekly disappointment.
We have witnessed this script before. Last season, Stephen Bunting endured the peculiar torment of playing admirably yet collecting nothing tangible, losing his opening eight matches. There is something uniquely disorientating about performing well and still departing empty-handed – a competitive purgatory that leaves you bewildered rather than broken.
Mark Webster sufferednan especially torridnPremier League season which manybclaim had a damaging and lasting effect upon his career.
For Josh Rock, that emotional undertow may now be tugging at the ankles. The reigning World Cup champion collided with a rampant Jonny Clayton in Newcastle, and then in Antwerp found himself embroiled in a far more personal struggle – an inexplicable inability to secure consistent grip, culminating in a chastening defeat to a below-par Michael van Gerwen. Sky Sports analyst Wayne Mardle did not disguise his apprehension.
“The Premier League is not about winning early doors, it’s about feeling okay. If you feel okay after losing three weeks on the bounce, it’s alright. You can get away with it because you feel confident enough you are playing well enough.
“It’s like Stephen Bunting loses eight on the bounce last year – he wasn’t playing poorly, he then wins one. That will hurt Josh Rock because last week he didn’t get into the game because of Jonny Clayton.
“This week he didn’t get into it because he was so poor. He’s got things to think about.
Josh Rock won’t be able to forget about that until he puts things right”
Rock himself confronted the moment publicly, issuing a candid Instagram apology:“Want to apologise to everyone who watched me. I felt fantastic up there but had no grip on my fingers. “Is what it is, we move on. All the best MVG.”
Van Gerwen would ultimately fall to Gerwyn Price in the final, yet his campaign has begun sturdily – already surpassing his entire 2025 roadshow in one opening-night triumph.As for Rocky, alarm bells are not yet clamouring. A quarter-final victory in Glasgow would recalibrate the narrative entirely.
The complication? Luke Humphries awaits – and intriguingly, the defending champion mirrors Rock’s predicament: played two, lost two. In Scotland, one narrative of renewal is guaranteed. The other must linger a little longer.
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC / Jenny Segers
