"Until I get a Premier League, I’ll never say that": Josh Rock won't call himself an elite player until milestone reached

Josh Rock produced a blistering display to book his place in the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Series of Darts Finals, dismantling Danny Noppert 6–0 in just 10 minutes.

Rock averaged 107.36 with seven 180's, a high checkout of 106 and 6/12 on the doubles. Noppert hit a 100 average but couldn't produce in front of his home crowd missing five darts at doubles and averaging over 100 at the World Series of Darts Finals but being blown away.

Speaking afterwards, Rock admitted even he was taken aback by the speed and quality of his performance. “Most of them don’t play that well, but I’m enjoying it,” he said to Online Darts. “They just went in, they just felt great up there, and yeah, I put them in the right place.”

Rock confessed he knew immediately that he had delivered something special: “Yeah, well, I’m not personally giving myself praise, but when I walked off that stage, I went, ‘Josh, you actually played well there,’ because I knew with the 180s, the timing, everything—it was just all going to plan. So I’ll give myself credit because I knew I’d played well there.”

Despite the dominant scoreline, he said he had prepared himself for a very different kind of evening. “I wouldn’t expect it to be 10 minutes. I was going out there with the mentality that the crowd was going to be against me, and it was the complete opposite. From the moment I walked on, the crowd were with me the whole time, which really surprised me. I think that might have taken a wee bit of pressure off me.”

Rock’s rise has been marked by increasingly frequent big-stage performances, something he puts down in part to a major change last year. “As I said last year, my manager knew after the World Grand Prix that I was switching to Target in October. Obviously that’s made the difference for me—switching it out.”

Asked whether it was simply down to equipment, Rock explained: “Well, yeah, I think it is down to the equipment, and obviously the confidence and experience too.”

Currently provisionally in the world’s top ten, Rock is not yet ready to place himself among the very elite. “Until I get a Premier League, I’ll never say that, because for me that’s the mark of the elite players.”

Many had expected Noppert to enjoy the lion’s share of backing from the home crowd in Amsterdam, but Rock was pleasantly surprised.

“No, but as I said, from the walk-on the crowd were with me the whole time. I think they actually wanted me to win, which is weird obviously, in Holland playing someone from Holland. So yeah, that took a wee bit of extra pressure off me because the fans were with me.”

Rock also reflected on his earlier triumph this year at the World Cup of Darts, when he partnered Daryl Gurney to victory for Northern Ireland. “Of course. It was a big confidence boost—it was my first TV title. Obviously it’s a joint one, but when you do that on TV, in the World Cup, it gives you massive confidence.”

Rock now faces Belgium’s Mike De Decker in the quarterfinals, an opponent who has enjoyed the better of their previous meetings. Rock, however, sees the clash as finely balanced. “I wouldn’t class myself a favourite, I wouldn’t class him as a favourite. It’s just whoever has the better darts on the day, and we’ll see who wins.”