“I really feel for Josh at this point” – Wayne Mardle fears Josh Rock will completely crumble amid torrid Premier League Darts campaign

Wayne Mardle sounds the alarm over Josh Rock’s dip in form. The English analyst fears that the Northern Irishman’s troubled Premier League campaign won’t be confined to the prestigious invitational, but could also undermine his performances in other tournaments.

Rock is enduring a particularly difficult debut year in the Premier League Darts. After seven nights, the world number seven is still on zero points and sits bottom of the table. In Dublin he also took a heavy blow: Gerwyn Price didn’t give him a single leg and steamrolled him 6-0. With an average of just 84.21, Rock fell well below his usual level.

Mardle, a former pro and now one of the regular voices on Sky Sports, sees a player at a crossroads. “I really feel for Josh at this point,” he says. “What is going to happen now is that it’s going to go two ways. Is he going to let this slide into the other events and start playing poorly in them because he is losing confidence in the Premier League? “Or he’s carrying on — at the moment, he is playing well away from the Premier League."

According to Mardle, that’s where the key lies. Away from the Premier League, Rock still shows solid spells, but the danger is carrying that poor run mentally. “You can’t let one seep into the other,” he emphasises. “Hopefully, he has got the strength of mind to continue playing well elsewhere. Then finally kick it here. But he does not look a confident man at all."

That uncertainty, Mardle says, translates directly onto the oche. Rock looks lost on stage and appears to be forcing his throw. “You can see he is trying to throw them firm. Which is great, but they are not going in."

It’s especially on the doubles where Rock is coming up short, and that’s where the Premier League is ruthless. “Every chance he is getting — which is very limited,” Mardle analyses. “He is fluffing his lines on doubles because the pressure is too much."

What makes the situation even more painful is that Rock himself may not fully realise how far his level has dropped. “He won’t believe how bad he is playing,” Mardle states. “You can picture whoever you want being last and you could be right. But no one has pictured him playing as poorly as he is. It is not pleasant to see.”

The coming weeks are therefore crucial for Rock. Not just to give his Premier League campaign some colour, but above all to prevent this dip in form from developing into a broader crisis of confidence.