DartsNews Podcast | “This might be the best Gerwyn Price we’ve ever seen” – So why isn’t he winning titles?

Gerwyn Price is producing numbers that would normally carry a player to titles, yet the silverware has not followed. Despite reaching a level that, on current evidence, could be the best of his career, the former world champion and world number one finds himself without a major TV win since 2023 and still searching for a ranking title to match his form, a contradiction that was at the centre of discussion on the latest episode of the DartsNews Podcast.

Kieran Wood and Nicolas Gayer dug into that dilemma in detail, questioning how Price can be playing some of the most complete darts of his life while the biggest prizes continue to elude him. From dominant performances and relentless scoring power to the fine margins that are denying him at the final stages, their analysis centres on one pressing question: how long can this level continue without the rewards to match?

The debate was framed early, with Nicolas Gayer putting the question directly: Is this the best version of Gerwyn Price we have ever seen? “I’d have to say yes,” Wood replied, acknowledging the weight of that statement given Price’s career. “As weird as it feels to say that about a former world champion, and in fact someone who hasn’t won a TV title in two years, or over two years at this point, I think, the way he’s playing at the moment is top, top drawer.”

Gayer agreed, pointing out that while the statistics and titles may not immediately support that claim, the level itself tells a different story. “I’m totally with you on that, because as you said, the statistics and maybe even the titles and his biggest wins don’t necessarily say that. But I think it’s totally fair. I see it that way too, and I think we are witnessing prime Gerwyn Price.”

That level was on full display during a standout night of Premier League Darts in Manchester, where Price produced a series of dominant performances that underlined just how high his ceiling currently sits. “That was Gerwyn Price at his very best, wasn’t it?” Wood added. “I think it was three averages all over 105, and there was a 112 in there as well.”

For Gayer, those numbers only reinforce the broader point. “Nightly average of 107.74. I mean, what can you say? That’s just phenomenal.” He added that in terms of pure level, Price belongs among the very best the sport has seen. “Obviously not top one, two or three, but definitely top ten, because he’s just so, so good to watch.”

What makes this version of Price so compelling is not just the raw scoring, but how complete his overall game now appears. As Gayer outlined, the difference lies in the balance he has found across every aspect of his performance.

“The overall package looked so good,” he explained, highlighting physical condition, equipment stability and emotional control as key factors. “On the one hand, you’ve got his physical condition. He looks in perfect shape. Then you’ve got the darts going beautifully. He’s got his set-up sorted. He looks more controlled than ever. He still uses his emotions, but I think it’s in measured doses, really well-measured doses.”

That evolution extends beyond the oche. Where Price was once a polarising figure, often met with hostility from crowds, he now operates in a far more positive environment. “There’s the fact he gets far more love from the fans now than he did five or six years ago,” Gayer continued. “He’s sorted that out too.”

Wood sees that shift as a crucial part of his current form. “The crowd support is a big part of that. It can’t be underestimated, because whereas in the past he was doing those big roars for the crowd’s benefit more than anything, now he’s doing it for himself… when it feels right. I think that is a big part of what’s making him so good now.”

And yet, for all of that, the central contradiction remains. “It has to at some point, doesn’t it?” Wood said when asked whether this level will translate into titles. “You can’t play this well, and it’s not like it’s only just started now. He’s been playing well for a long time, just without real reward.”

It is a sentiment that captures the frustration at the heart of Price’s current situation. Performances that would typically define a dominant run are instead ending without silverware, leaving a growing sense that something is not quite aligning.

Part of that, according to Wood, may come down to one specific obstacle. “I think his main stumbling block at the moment is Luke Littler, and I think it’s mental,” he explained, referencing recent meetings between the pair. “We saw that in the Premier League final the other week, where he was 5-0 up and threw it away.”

Gayer agreed that the dynamic has shifted. “It’s completely switched now,” he noted, pointing to a period earlier in their rivalry when Price held the upper hand.

If that hurdle can be cleared, the belief is that the breakthrough will follow. “If we ever get a major where Luke Littler falls at an earlier hurdle, Gerwyn Price has to be one of the names there to pick up the title,” Gayer said.

He also pointed to a subtle but important factor in Price’s current season. “It’s a good thing for him that he doesn’t have any money to defend this year,” he noted, easing some of the external pressure as Price continues to build momentum.

But the lingering question is unavoidable. “If he doesn’t do it now, with this momentum, then he has a problem,” Gayer added. “How much better can you play, to be honest?”

That uncertainty is what makes this current phase of Price’s career so fascinating. A player who has already reached the very top of the sport now appears to be operating at an even higher level, yet without the titles that would normally define it.

For now, the performances continue to come. The numbers remain elite. The overall package looks stronger than ever. But until the trophies follow, the question posed on the DartsNews Podcast will continue to hang over one of the game’s most compelling figures.