"They know now that I’m not going to go away quietly": Luke Humphries returns to second home of Leeds with sights set on hat-trick and play-off fight

Luke Humphries returns to the First Direct Arena in Leeds as he aims to claim a third consecutive nightly win at the arena winning in 2024 and 2025 in this year's Premier League Darts.

A nightly win would go a long way with Humphries one of just a few players who have yet to win a night and given he supports Leeds, it is always a night that lives long in the memory.

He faces Josh Rock after a good week in Aberdeen last time out and already knows in his mind the permutations for him to qualify. "It’s always going to be the one I look forward to most on the calendar. I put myself in a better position last week, so I played a bit better and I don’t have to win tomorrow to stand a chance now," said Humphries during his pre Leeds press conference.

“If I win my first round tomorrow and then win my next round in Birmingham, I could still have a chance of finishing fourth versus fifth for a straight knockout. Those are the scenarios that can happen. So it’s not a must-win for me overall. The first game probably is, but yeah, it’s always the one I look forward to the most.”

He comes into this week off the back of reaching the final in Aberdeen beating Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen en route and said that was massive for his confidence. "It was huge. If I won, I stayed in with a chance of qualifying. If I lost, it was probably over for me.

“I think seven points is catchable, but you’re really staring down the barrel at that stage. So it was a must-win game. I said that in my pre-match interview and thankfully I won.

“Beating Gian as well was important because he’s right there with me too. It’s a shame I didn’t have a good last few legs against Luke Littler in the final because if I did, I’d have been right on the tails of Michael or Gezzy, only three points behind them.

“But it is what it is. It was an important three points for myself and hopefully I can build on it tomorrow.”

Having that all-or-nothing mindset, though, like a knockout tournament, has also made Humphries focus on the task in hand a bit more, he admits, albeit while still tinkering with his game, as has been seen to try and eventually get a perceived edge. "I think it mentally makes you focus harder. You know you can’t mess around and think, ‘I’ll be better next week,’ because that’s not the case anymore.

“Every week now feels so important, and I think that benefits me a little bit. You’ve seen with the way I changed my throw recently, I slowed it down a little bit to make it more controlled. I probably wouldn’t usually do something like that if there were another eight or nine weeks left, but because it’s crunch time, I wanted to improve the stability of it.”

Humphries was also pragmatic when it came to his thoughts on whether people have been harsh on his game this year and his form going into the back end of the Premier League.

“I don’t know. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. That’s sport, and the pundits can say what they feel and what they see. No one’s really wrong because going 12 or 13 weeks without winning a nightly event isn’t up to my standards.

“But the strange thing is I’ve probably performed better this year than I did last year in terms of averages and scoring. It’s pretty obvious why I am where I am — it’s my doubles and my timing that have let me down.

“That’s probably been one of the strongest parts of my game over the last two or two-and-a-half years. If that comes back to how it usually is and the scoring stays where it is, then you’ll see me back to normal. To be fair, last week the doubling was pretty decent, and the scoring was good, and you saw a much more consistent week from me.”

Being a Leeds United supporter, Leeds always means a lot to him as a night and he hopes to combat needing to win more than ever with that home feeling. “Of course it can. It gives you that extra buzz and a bit of a spur on. There’s added pressure when you’re playing in front of a crowd that’s naturally more behind you because you want to win more than ever — and I need to win more than ever, to be fair.

“The last two years I’ve probably performed to the standard I wanted to there, so hopefully tomorrow it pays dividends again. Doing the hat-trick would be quite surreal, but it’s definitely possible.”

“When you’ve got that buzz and adrenaline flowing through you, it can spur you on and make you even better than you naturally are. The last two times I’ve played there, the crowd has really helped push me on. Some of the games were a bit of a scrap, but I desperately didn’t want to lose. I think that mentality is sometimes what you need and it’s going to help me tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough game against Josh Rock because he’s starting to play better and find his feet a bit more now. He’ll be up for it, I’ll be up for it, and there’s a lot on the line for me.”

But for Humphries now too it's about remaining positive and really digging in after admitting he doubted himself throughout the campaign and now employs a mindset of trying to dig in to try and get there and if it happens great. “Sometimes it makes you feel like it’s just not going to be your year or your tournament.

“For me, the doubles have really killed me. There are so many games I look back on and feel like I should have won. But if the doubles click over the next few weeks, I’ve still got a chance to lift the trophy and that’s the most important thing. When results aren’t going your way, it’s hard to keep your confidence and motivation up. The last two years in the Premier League were all about winning and making finals all the time, so when that stops happening it’s a new experience. You have to dig in and see what you’re really made of. If I do manage to qualify, I’d be really proud of myself because it would show I found something special at the right time.”

Being a seasoned pro by now, Humphries said that others will also be handling the pressure well even Van Veen in his debut year but that he is not going to go away quietly and hopes to get himself in a late position for that play-off push. "When you’ve been a professional for a long time, you get used to these situations. Michael van Gerwen won’t be worrying too much, he’ll quietly back himself to get the job done. I’m the same, and I’m sure Gian will feel the same too. But they know now that I’m not going to go away quietly. I’m going to keep pushing and trying to get myself into that top four.

“If Michael can’t win one of his next two games and me and Gian win our opening matches, then we could end up in a decider in Sheffield. That’s all I ask of myself really — get into a one-game shootout situation for fourth or fifth. That would suit me perfectly because at least then I’ve given myself a real opportunity.”