One of the darts players who missed out on competing in the 2025 Premier League has made his feelings clear on the PDC's decision.
As usual, eight players were selected for the invitation-only tournament, which consists of the top four players in the Order of Merit and four players specifically picked by the PDC.
Form over the past 12 months is the major factor behind the PDC's decisions, with a particularly close eye on achievements at the World Darts Championship that precedes Premier League selection by a matter of weeks.
Performances in the other four yearly darting majors - the World Grand Prix, UK Open, World Matchplay and the Grand Slam of Darts - are taken into account as well.
Advert
However, this year was different, as Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker and UK Open victor Dimitri van den Bergh were not invited.
Neither was Dave Chisnall, who was ranked at world number five before the World Championship - after a strong season on the ProTour - but struggled in televised events and lost in the World Championship second round to Ricky Evans.
De Decker (out in round two) and Van den Bergh (out in round three) also had poor showings in the tournament.
Instead, Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall were selected.
There was some controversy surrounding the picks of Price and Aspinall as neither had enjoyed particularly strong 2024 campaigns, though Dobey's run to the semi-final of the World Championship was more than enough to secure his place.
Bunting, meanwhile, has not won a single Premier League match this season but there was never any doubt or argument over whether he would be selected. 'The Bullet' had a superb 2024 which included winning the Masters and reaching a world semi-final, where he lost to Luke Littler.
He also started 2025 strongly by winning the Bahrain Darts Masters, but that didn't translate into strong Premier League form.
In January, Chisnall gave his verdict on the PDC's four additional picks.
Writing in his column for betting agency Kwiff, he said: "The Premier League line-up was hardly surprising this week, but you'd have to be gutted if you were someone like a Mike De Decker or Damon Heta.
"I never expected to get a phone call - despite being world number six - because of how poor I've been on TV this year, but Mike can feel let down after his great run at the World Grand Prix.
"Damo [Heta] is another who I think can feel unlucky, whilst it's good to see Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting rewarded with a spot."
"It seems like something of a changing of the guard, with no Michael Smith and no Peter Wright," Chisnall added. "Whilst Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price can both feel a bit lucky in my opinion to be involved this year.
"Gezzy has had a lot going on and struggled in 2024, while Nathan has done similarly. His [Aspinall's] run to the quarter-finals of the worlds probably got him involved, that and everybody loving his Mr Brightside theme song."
Topics: Darts, World Darts Championship
Ryan Smart