SunSport’s Phil Lanning, the longest-serving journalist in darts for over 30 years, gives his verdict from Minehead…
1. LUKE LITTLER IS NOW AN ALL-TIME GREAT
THE kid from Warrington threw his first darts against Christian Kist at the World Championship on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. Who would have predicted he would be an all-time great just over two years later?
To rack up 12 major titles and sit third in the PDC’s most decorated players behind only Phil Taylor (79) and Michael van Gerwen (48) before turning 20-years-old is the stuff of fairytales, a Roy of the Throwers story.
Every throw of his darts sets records tumbling. He now holds every major title in the sport apart from the Premier League, European Championship and World Series, plus also the World Cup.
There are other incredible stats – 16 successive semi-final wins. He has NEVER lost a semi-final in a major. He has won back-to-back World Championships, the Grand Slam and UK Open. He’s also just £39,000 away from being the first-ever player to hit the £3MILLION mark on his world ranking prize money.
The only question now is hunger. But there are no signs of The Nuke letting up. He wants to win the World Cup for England and the European Championship to complete the clean sweep of title wins in the sport.
In all that time since December 2023, he’s not put a foot wrong, a real class act. He says and does all the right things.
Legend is a word dreadfully overused in sport. But Littler has already achieved greatness.
2. JAMES WADE PREMIER LEAGUE SNUB
THE stats don’t lie. James Wade is 100 per cent right to feel “hurt” that he didn’t get a Premier League pick.
Over the past year, Wade has been a finalist in three majors, twice in the UK Open and World Matchplay – losing them all to Littler. He also reached two major quarter-finals. Apart from The Nuke, Gian van Veen and Luke Humphries, no other player has a better record.
Wade admits his biggest problem is being “awkward” to deal with and he can be unpredictable in interviews, both of which are most likely down to him being a BiPolar sufferer.
As Littler alluded to after the UK Open final, Wade is also a gentleman and a world class player.
After his Premier snub earlier this year, Wade said: “Hard work pays off…really?
“Disappointed, but proud of the work I put in this year chasing one goal getting back to the Premier League. Missing out hurts, but that’s part of the journey.
“I trusted my performances in the big moments, two major finals and two major quarter-finals and I’ll keep backing that process. Back to work now. 2026, I’ll be ready.”
He has been ready. One Players Championship win and UK Open finalist again. Hopefully a deserved Premier League place in 2027 is on the cards.
3. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LUKE HUMPHRIES?
IT was THE big heavyweight clash; the battle of the Lukes which started with Cool Hand beating Littler in the 2024 World Championship final.
Humphries has beaten The Nuke in a major final three times; the World Championship and Players Championship in 2024 and Premier League in 2025.
But since then it’s been all one-way traffic in the Grand Prix, Grand Slam, Grand Prix and World Masters.
More worryingly, Humphries has been playing brilliantly but not getting results. He’s in the bottom half of the Premier League and surprisingly fizzled out of the UK Open in the sixth round to Danny Noppert.
There have been tweaks to his darts set-up and while his scoring is phenomenal, the doubles aren’t as devastating as he can produce. Surely his luck will change soon.
Humphries has been a breath of fresh air at the top of the sport. A consummate professional, super-fit, a genuinely charming bloke and a wonderful ambassador.
But, crikey, we need him back to his best on the board to give us a rivalry with Littler. Come on Cool Hand, darts needs you!
4. ITV’S NEW TEAM AND COVERAGE
ONE of the unsung darts success stories of 2026 so far has been the brilliant new coverage on ITV, under Matchroom (owners of the PDC) production.
It was always going to be a tough act to follow the world class Jacqui Oatley presenting from the previous ITV team.
But it’s been a real quality and innovative affair so far. The World Masters was excellent with a new TV wall feature and the UK Open was equally classy. The new team headed by slick presenter Pete Graves and Wayne Mardle as the top pundit is simply outstanding.
Dan Dawson has become the voice of the sport, oozing knowledge and a healthy dose of wit alongside Mark Wilson in the comms. The addition of the excellent reporters Polly James and Alexa Rendell (making her debut at the UK Open) also adds extra pizzazz and makes the entire coverage highly-entertaining.
5. CAN ANYONE STOP LUKE LITTLER?
THAT is the burning question. Ominously, Littler appeared to win the UK Open in second gear.
As aforementioned, Luke Humphries has been the main thorn in Littler’s side.
James Wade was the last player to beat him in a major in the European Championship on October 25, 2025. Michael van Gerwen did become the only player other than Humphries to beat Littler in a major final in the World Series last September.
The general narrative is that the PDC has incredible strength in depth of player quality. But for all that bluster, Littler is still almost untouchable.
Gian van Veen has stepped it up over the past few months and is world class on his night. He lost out to a resurgent Rob Cross in Minehead.
Gerwyn Price looks the other player most likely. He has got so much bottle and class in the big moments but couldn’t stop Wadey in the semis at the UK Open.
Jonny Clayton is back to his best and leads the Premier League table but he missed out in the UK Open quarters to Price. Josh Rock, Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey and Danny Noppert all have the quality but just fall short at the crunch.
The most worrying case is Van Gerwen. He topped the Premier League but missed a week in Glasgow through illness and has looked well below par ever since.
MVG is an absolute giant of the sport but has had to deal with so much off the oche with divorce and his dad battling illness. Likewise, other greats Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright also look a pale shadow of the serial winners they once were. Hopefully these superstars can find one last hurrah.
But the rest need to up their game quickly to stop The Nuke racking up the trophies and cash!
