ANALYSIS: Joe Cullen and the 2026 career crossroads - “If I look in the mirror, I’ve underachieved”

“I used to look forward to going to darts”. Joe Cullen wasn’t hiding his emotions. By November 2025, ranked 35th in the PDC Order of Merit, earning £152,000 that year, a third of his 2022 peak, the Rockstar said what no one wanted to hear. Fifteen years on tour, a 2022 Masters and Premier League final, and after a spiral of missing majors, his appetite for darts was missing.

“I’ve lost a lot of love for the game”, he admitted to Online Darts. Numbers tell the story for the Bradford star. From 12th in the world and £448,500 earned in prize money in 2022, to 35th and scraping just 34% of that number in 2025. Cullen’s talent hasn’t gone, with 2 Players Championship wins, the desire has. His consistency began to break down, as wins were becoming isolated rather than part of any momentum.

Yet, 2026 shows promise for Cullen. A Players Championship 5 semi-final, a win rate climbing from 54% to 62.5%. Three consecutive 100-plus averages. £49,500 banked in 3 months, projecting £198,000 for the full year, a 30% increase, and without a deep TV run. This is the difference between 2 sporadic wins and consistency across an entire season.

Despite his upturn in tour form, European Tours haven't been a happy hunting ground. A 6-5 loss to Andy Baetens despite throwing 101.4 average. Defeats to Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith raise questions about whether his improved tour form translates when the standard rises. Essential for Cullen’s progression when translating from on tour to the stage, which was his best attribute during the Rockstar’s peak. With all evidence to prove both sides of good and bad, can Cullen sustain his early 2026 form long enough to matter, or is this just one last run before the fire goes out for good?

2022 Masters champion. 2022 Premier League finalist. 12th in the world. At his peak, Cullen was a contender for all majors, playing in some of the great matches of the 2010s, including the World Matchplay Quarter Final 2018 against Gary Anderson in Blackpool. What’s he involved in now?

Sliding slowly is one thing, never stopping is another. 12th in the world in 2022, 23rd in 2024, 35th in 2025. From finals on TV to no deep TV runs. Decline for Cullen was never sudden, and this is what is most damaging for Cullen. As the pressure was maintained to defend ranking money, the 36-year-old crumbled.

Admitting it publicly is a step many miss. “I only value the social aspect of darts”, he told Online Darts. Fifteen years on tour, more again as an amateur - by that point, falling out of love isn't weakness, it's human. The extent to which he could repeatedly walk on to the same music and take the same trip to the pro tours started to bite into his passion. He counted more talented players than him on one hand. Fans could see that as arrogance, yet implicitly, this reads as belief, which is essential even when everything else slips.

35th in the world doesn’t reflect the talent the Yorkshireman describes. Cullen confidently cites a lack of hunger as the cause of his downfall. That kind of emotional, mental, and fundamental change doesn’t happen by wishing for it. In a calendar that never stops - Player Championships, European tour, majors stacked back to back - there is no offseason to reset, no clean break to find this hunger.

Breaks aren’t spent with darts; Cullen spends them as far away from darts as he can. But the more he is out of the top 16, the more qualifiers and tour events that are mandatory for his career, and he will struggle to find this time. The question is whether the player who once counted the elite on one hand still wants to join them.

68.4% win percentage on tour, 77% after going beyond the first round. Once Cullen gets past the first round, his game elevates. The momentum builds on itself. Cullen knows this, telling Online Darts he can’t find that adrenaline “on board 14 in Leicester”.

A quarter-final run at PC1 and a last 16 at PC4 beyond those semi-finals show ongoing progress. Wins against players around him in the rankings help, such as the rising Niels Zonneveld, who beat Luke Littler in the last 16 of the Belgian Darts Open this year. With the weakening fields of Player Championships in 2026, this is essential to where Cullen is ranked. He must prove he doesn’t deserve to be there, rather than verbally stating that.

Three 100-plus averages across PC4 and PC5 - 101.71 against Damon Heta in PC4, then 101.57 against Brendan Dolan and 101.16 against Adam Gawlas consecutively in PC5. One hundred plus average is a good day. Two consecutive 100-plus averages in the same tournament are a statement Cullen needs.

Cullen has already won £49,500 in the first three months of 2026. £198,000 projected for the full year without a deep TV and a European Tour round 3, putting him at 10th in World Matchplay qualifying, and a healthy £14,000 buffer to Damon Heta in 16th. In 2025, he qualified 12th. In 2026, he sits 9th in a more competitive field. What’s more important about 2026, though, is that this better position is built upon consistent performances, rather than one win at Player Championship 5 in 2025.

*2026 = after 3 months

The Winter Gardens is the most historic darts venue holding the World Matchplay. Blackpool moves the darts scene from rowdy Premier League nights to some of the most dedicated fans, respecting every dart thrown. Being the second most prestigious title, the Betfred World Matchplay offers a £1,066,000 prize fund for 32 players, £225,000 for the winner.

Ten appearances for Cullen, including a semi-final in 2023, have made Blackpool a regular destination during July. The field is strong, and Cullen must bring his adrenaline for a major TV event. The Winter Gardens isn’t a random board in Leicester. If what Cullen had been saying was true, he should be bringing his A game to the seaside.

Competing with the top 16, such as the magnificent Wessel Nijman, and his Dutch qualifying compatriots of Niels Zonneveld, Hawkeye Kevin Doets, and Dirk Van Duijvenbode, proves the difficulty of the task that Cullen has if he even wants to get past the first round. This ignores staples such as Ross Smith and players who are all averaging higher than him in the last 12 months. This makes Cullen almost obliged to bring the best out of himself.

One win secures £22,500, a semi-final pays £65,000. A deep run could flip the perspective of Cullen from underdog to contender. Working back in the top 20, the tour works favourably for Cullen. Euro Tour qualifiers are secured automatically, and the seeding that builds wins rather than forces Cullen to fight for them.

The World Matchplay could be that moment for Cullen where everything comes together, as the wait for a result ends. The Matchplay form will bleed into the back end of the season majors. Gian Van Veen demonstrated exactly this last year. A first-round victory over Luke Humphries planted a seed that grew into a European Championship title and a World Championship final. Cullen needs this type of kickstart and purpose, which the Matchplay could provide.

Cullen was beaten on and off the board. That interview in November wasn’t a weakness; it showed a man who confronted what everyone had been asking publicly. Resetting expectations publicly took the weight off Cullen, as he is no longer carrying the gap between what he was and what he’d become; he could simply play.

Cullen’s confidence is his greatest attribute. In a solo sport as mentally gruelling as darts, confidence is self-fulfilling, not superficial, as a player who believes he can make a deep run throws differently than one who doesn't. This is explicit with the Rockstar; his composure is on display more than it was in 2025.

The PDC calendar in 2026 gave Cullen no time to doubt himself. Six Player Championships in February alone suggest that the Rockstar had no time to lose his rhythm. With Euro Tour travel mostly minimal in February, Cullen’s well-documented aversion to the road wasn’t a factor.

Rarely facing a top 8 would suggest that Cullen hasn’t been properly tested, perhaps, but to measure this would be impossible due to the current climate of the PDC calendar for Premier League players. Performing and caring aren’t the same. Cullen is doing one. Whether he is doing both remains the question.

Inspiration has an expiry date without love for the game, and this could be applied to Cullen. He just seems to be hanging on in there, and knowing he needs these results, and isn’t acknowledging the qualities he has due to how great he used to be. This is dangerous for motivation, but not for the short term.

Healthy win percentages from a decent sample give Cullen every reason for cautious optimism. 68.4% win rate over 19 matches, with a tangible goal of the Matchplay. Yet, this isn’t the full picture of the Englishman’s 2026.

PC2 and PC3 had early losses against Latvian number 1 Madars Razma and 2018 World Matchplay finalist Mensur Suljovic, neither result suggesting a deep TV run is coming. Tested at the European tour level, Cullen’s consistency evaporates when the tests come.

Averages sitting at 92-93 against the players he’d need to beat for a deep TV run isn’t enough. All of this will emerge in the back end of the season, with a revamped Grand Slam formula that could suit the former quarter-finalist if he can qualify.

Adrenaline rarely lasts from July to October, and the Grand Prix and Players Championship finals will reveal more about Cullen’s resurgence than any of his 2026 form ever could. Remaining dormant through that stretch would reduce February to a footnote.

Players Championship 8 provided Cullen with a final, losing to Wessel Nijman, who picked up the second of his four pro tour titles in 2026. It’s not the loss, but the fact that Cullen beat accomplished players in similar positions to him: Michael Smith and Damon Heta, but also beat players around him in the Player Championships order of merit, such as the Bolt Sebastian Bialecki.

This proves that he is beating those around him, but when challenges come, he isn’t up to the task. £10,000 won’t go missed for Cullen, as this boosts his 2026 profile.

April saw the 2025 Cullen, however. 30% win percentage, with just one last 32 appearance. 4 first-round exits. The contrast is stark, proving how crucial the first win is for Cullen to get the ball rolling.

Most worrying, his averages dropped into the mid-80s, suggesting that his C-game is below par for beating those in the top 128. This begs the question that if this comes out on the major stage with his C game, could this be detrimental to his confidence, as with April’s form, winning on the major stage looks unlikely.

Could he? That remains the question, and for the foreseeable future will remain unanswered until July. Yet, the question would be answered quickly if the April form continues.

To measure how he could have a deep run, Cullen must improve his C and B game. His A game is most definitely one of the best in a Player Championship field, but his C game doesn’t pose the same threat. Building this consistency across all games would give Cullen the confidence that, although when he isn’t playing his best, he could still get past his board and into the last 32 in a player championship event.

With this consistency that was missing in 2025, the ceiling for Cullen rises when built on adrenaline, which in turn would build the hunger which he craves.