"I've been a little lazy and need to kick myself " - Josh Rock takes responsibility for form dip

Josh Rock recently admitted that he has become lazy recently and that he has only himself to blame for his recent dip in form. 'Rocky' was one of the standouts of 2025, with the absolute highlight being his title with Daryl Gurney at World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland.

The darter from Antrim also reached two consecutive finals on the European Tour this year and climbed into the world's top ten for the first time in his career, yet Rock went down in the second round of the World Grand Prix and was recently defeated 6-4 by Ricardo Pietreczko in the first round of the European Championship.

The 24-year-old believes he himself is to blame for his recent slump, having neglected his training. In an interview with Off The Ball, he said, "If I'm honest, I've been a bit lazy. I practiced a lot when I was there (in Germany), but the period before that I didn't do much. It's my own fault, because the last two or three weeks I haven't performed like I have all year. It did give me a kick in the rear to wake up," he concluded.

"I thought the crowd in Dortmund was fantastic. The first match is always the hardest, because you really want to win. After that, it gets easier to get into the tournament, because the format for the first round is 'first to six.' Sometimes it's hard to get going. Everyone has a bad day sometimes, and then you just have to push through," he continued.

Rock says he is now working to train his doubles better and has enlisted the help of a former Masters champion to do so. "I got some advice from John O'Shea, who gave me new practice routines for the doubles, because that's my weakest point. There's not much else wrong with my scoring, so I'm just trying out some new things at home."

The world number 10 has been much mentioned as a possible candidate for the Premier League next season, but he feels he has not yet performed enough to earn that honour.

"It would be something I would be proud of, and I would love to play in the Premier League, but I don't think I've shown enough for that yet, so that's why I need to kick myself and try to win something. We're in the last part of the year now, because there are only the majors left to play for," he concluded.