"One of the best performances we've seen": Matthew Edgar lauds Luke Humphries' World Matchplay brilliance

Matthew Edgar gave a top five countdown as to his main things he learned from the 2024 World Matchplay which saw Luke Humphries prevail in superb fashion at the Winter Gardens defeating Michael van Gerwen for the title.

Edgar spoke on his YouTube channel and his first main takeaway was the sheer brilliance of 'Cool Hand Luke'. "Never dropped below a 100 average all tournament. This was one of the best performances we've seen at the World Matchplay since Peter Wright dominated it a few years ago. He never really looked too much in doubt. He looks set to be the World Number One for some time. He's only defending about 10% of his prize money at the back end of this year. He could break the 2 million barrier. It would not surprise me to see him break that boundary," said Edgar.

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While Ross Smith was also lauded by Edgar as a player who went from being a bit of a floor player hitting high averages and 180's to performing on TV. "He looked a little bit more likely. That win against Josh Rock in the opening game was a big test before beating Gerwyn Price in a big game. That was the moment where Ross Smith goes from somebody that's playing good in the averages to someone who is playing good in terms of the Matchplay. Big big move for Ross Smith, I think that'll stand him in good stead."

But also in Edgar's opinion, it validates the seeding system that sees the top 16 seeds alongside the top players from the ProTour. "Once again just like most years it was seed dominated. Just four non seeds getting wins over 12 of the two year system. This again just furthers validates that the players in the top 16 are still head and shoulders above the pack. Anyone can beat anyone on one given day but once again the World Matchplay shows us that the two year system is the way to be going."

But also there was high points and low points for certain players with Peter Wright and James Wade going in opposite directions.

"Defeat to a little bit of an out of form Andrew Gilding was not a good result for Peter Wright. When we look at Wright in ranking events, he's defending a lot of money and he could genuinely drop out of the world's top 16. The bread and butter shots are letting him down."

Peter Wright's decline continued likely out of the top 16.

"I did say before the event that Wade would come out swinging. Nearly missing out on the event would spur him on and it did. It was a good James Wade. He was averaging in the 100's, he looked good, he's defending basically nothing at the end of the year. It's safe to say he will be back in the top 16 before the end of the year."