Darts / David Croft / 03 February 2009 /

On a good day, nobody can compete with him but on a bad day, the man who came close to quitting the sport last year can tinker with his game and tie himself up in knots. David Croft hopes Raymond van Barneveld leaves his yoga mat and hangers on at home and brings his perfect rythmn to this year's Darts Premier League.

Courtesy of a man who calls himself Kendo Nagasaki and who posts on the website forum 'Superstars of Darts' here's a little stat for you:

In the last 12 months Phil Taylor could have played in 51 Darts tournaments. He didn't of course; he put his feet up for 17 of them, which meant he played in only 34. He lost in 8 of those tournaments which left him with 26 titles, a staggering achievement given that this time last year he was still reeling from his poor performance at the world championship and was about to lose his first ever Premier League fixture. His form was on the slide and his PDC rivals smelt blood.

Back to the present day and on the eve of the Premier League, the 14 time world champion and inaugural Players Championship Finals Champion is a very warm [1.41] to successfully defend that Premier League crown. So can we expect The Power to sweep away all before him over the 15 nights of the League?

I hope not. One of the reasons the PDC has become interesting again in the last couple of years is that the competition has become tougher and that Taylor hasn't always looked unbeatable, do we really want a return to the days when Phil only had to turn up to pick up the winners cheque? I don't think we do.

But if the Premier League is to become an open and competitive event, it's up to the seven other players to raise their game, starting with Phil's opponent on the opening night Raymond Van Barneveld.

Barney is such a frustration to me. A man who in the process of winning five world titles has shown that on his day he has the ability to beat anyone in front of him and that includes Phil. A man who thinks as well as he throws, often switching to use the bull or outer bull as part of the scoring process and setting up 96 or 116 checkouts which he goes onto to hit. A man whose power scoring leaves opponents reeling and whose doubles percentages are high enough so as not to give the other player a shot at closing out a leg.

In short Barney, like his idol Eric Bristow, can be head and shoulders above the rest when he's on form, devastating and destructive and throwing with a perfect rhythm. But that's on his good days, Barney as we've found, and sometimes to our cost, can have plenty of bad days as well. Enough for the man himself to admit that he came close to quitting the sport last year.

The reason? Because his meditation fad was turning him into a loser. Barney it seems was slipping into a trance twice a day for 20 minutes in order to help him focus before a match. He was also hitting the gym on a regular basis and had put himself on a healthy diet, a regime that made little or no difference to his waistline and certainly didn't help him get fitter either judging by the amount of sweat he seemed to produce up on the stage. I wasn't sure if he needed a towel to wipe his brow or a sponge.

To his credit, Barney admitted that his new lifestyle was costing him matches and that he was his own worst enemy for tinkering when he didn't need to.

I've never understood why Barney needs an entourage around him 24/7. Bristow didn't need advisors and mentors, he knew the secret to winning and passed it on to Taylor who likewise works very much as a one man band. Barney on the other hand too often looks to others for inspiration and said he came close to quitting the sport because he had a voice inside telling him that he would always be second best.

From what I've seen at the world championships and also at the Circus Tavern last weekend that voice might have shut up for a while. Barney is throwing some good darts and if he can get a confidence boosting win against Phil in Liverpool this week he might be the man to challenge The Power once again.

Betfair backers can get a best priced [6.2] for him to take the Premier League and a tempting [2.02] to win without Taylor. The event needs him to do well, Phil is in great form no question but after a disappointing two years for the former postman it would be fabulous for the sport if Barney could start to deliver once again.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: