Chris Dobey puts right past frustrations Down Under: "I got in the Premier League a couple of years back and didn’t get a World Series"

Chris Dobey survived a tense encounter with Tim “The Magnet” Pusey in the opening round of the 2025 Australian Darts Masters, coming back from 4-2 down to claim a 6-4 victory. In his post-match press conference, Dobey revealed the physical and mental hurdles he faced, giving darts fans an unfiltered insight into the realities of competing at the highest level — especially when battling illness and pressure.

Dobey’s late surge to close out the match was impressive, but he was quick to acknowledge how close it had been. Speaking about his mindset during the match, he credited Damon Heta — affectionately known as “Damo” — for a timely pep talk early in the day: “Yeah, to be honest, I was speaking to Damo early doors and they used to play pairs years back and, you know, to play pairs with Damo, you must be a good player. He did play there. He played well tonight and he probably deserved a lot more out of the game than he did. But yeah, I’m just happy to get the win,” he explained in his post-match press conference afterwards.

Dobey’s humility shines through here: he recognised the quality of Pusey’s darts and admitted that luck played a part, especially given how his own game was hampered by recent illness. “The way I’ve been feeling the last two days, it was lucky — lucky I went up to play.”

Dobey’s victory came with a psychological burden. Being the last seeded player to take to the oche, and watching the other seven seeds secure their wins earlier, adds an invisible pressure that Dobey admitted was on his mind: “Not one of the lads have mentioned it but it’s in my head straight away — all seven of them’s won and you don’t want to be the one to let them down.”

This is the type of mental pressure that doesn’t always show on the scoreboard but can weigh heavily on a player’s confidence. Dobey’s candidness here adds an important layer of understanding about the mental toughness required on tour.

He also gave credit to Pusey’s performance, acknowledging that his opponent had chances to close the match: “Tim played well. He played a great game. He probably let me off — missed a couple of chances — but then again, you could say the other way around — I missed quite a lot of doubles. Even more so, 16s and 8s didn’t go tonight.”

The physical demands of international tournaments can often go unnoticed. Dobey highlighted the difficulty of adapting to the local environment and time zones — a factor compounded by his illness: “Yeah, it’s hard to get used to it. It’s hard to adapt. The sleeping pattern’s all over the place. But yeah, you do get used to it after a while. It’s just a shame I haven’t been feeling great the past couple of days because I could’ve been out doing a lot more.”

"It’s all about me performing now and trying to keep myself in these positions”

Dobey’s reflections on his standing within the PDC reveal a player hungry to consolidate his place among the elite. He appreciates the faith shown in him by the PDC through his Premier League selections and a World Series call-up: “Yeah, of course. It’s nice to have their backing. It’s all about me performing now and trying to keep myself in these positions.”

His career path shows a pragmatic approach: no complaints when missing out, just steady progress and focus on the next challenge: “I got in the Premier League a couple of years back and didn’t get a World Series, so I wasn’t grumbling. I didn’t argue or anything — I just got on with what I had to do and put it right to be here this year and back in the Premier League.”

This mentality bodes well for Dobey’s future. He’s clearly motivated not just to compete but to thrive: “Fingers crossed I can improve on me performances and hopefully I can be in the mix with the names for next year.”

“Sometimes I think after my first year in the Premier League, trying to get my floor game back to where I should be after that — because I was going into events not being able to get up for them after a night in the Premier League — and it’s not the way you should be. You should be getting up for every competition you play,” he continues. “I kind of sorted that out the following year, done well on the floor, and got my game back to where it should be.”

Now, his focus is firmly on making a mark on the biggest stages: “And yeah, it’s just about performing on the big stage now and hopefully pushing towards that TV title.”

Looking ahead, Dobey faces a tough quarter-final against reigning champion Gerwyn Price — a stern test for anyone. But if the composure and fight shown in his comeback against Pusey are anything to go by, Dobey will approach the challenge with confidence.