Aspinalol

OK, so the PL line up is out. Seven I think we could have expected - the top four were I guess still automatic. Bunting and Dobey based on the years and worlds they've had were easy enough guesses, Price hasn't had quite the results but is still clearly a top ten player in terms of pure quality. Aspinall though? Really? Spent much of last year injured, spent the remainder looking like he's got dartitis, done extremely little when he has been playing, but hey, he's got Mr Brightside so he's in. Fuck's sake. I know it wasn't an easy eighth choice, but you've got three major winners you've left out, more if you include unranked shit, one of whom is a major winner ON THE CHANNEL THAT SHOWS THE PREMIER LEAGUE who's top twelve in scoring for the second half of the year. And you go for a retread? Oh well.

The upshot is that we can now announce the 2025 Second and Third Division Darts lineups:

Division Two:

On last season's rankings - Dave Chisnall, Gary Anderson

On last season's third division rankings - Callan Rydz

On year end FRH rankings - Damon Heta, Jonny Clayton, James Wade, Mike de Decker

Wildcard one - Danny Noppert (next player out on rankings, second player out on scoring)

Wildcard two - Ross Smith (second player out on rankings, fifth player out on scoring)

Wildcard three - Ryan Searle (fifth player out on rankings, fourth player out on scoring)

Division Three:

On last season's rankings - Martin Schindler, Berry van Peer

World youth champion - Gian van Veen

On year end FRH rankings - Josh Rock, Kevin Doets, Wessel Nijman, Connor Scutt

Wildcard one - Niels Zonneveld (first player out on rankings, solid 90+ scoring in 2024, feels like a step up has been made and is being made)

Wildcard two - Keane Barry (second player out on rankings, very good Development Tour season, been unlucky with results)

Wildcard three - Niko Springer (excellent Development Tour season to get his card, H2 2024 scoring looks extremely competent, good showing in defeat at the worlds)

Couple of controversial ones here, Josh Rock could easily have got a spot over Searle, and if he wasn't third division eligible he'd likely have got it, but with a loss of eligible players (van den Bergh, Pietreczko and Rowby John all turned 30, and the latter didn't even hold his card, Rydz and de Decker got auto spots at a level above) and given somewhat comparable match records, I'll give Ryan the nod. Sticking Springer in isn't something I'd usually do, based on not having played the senior circuit yet, but he's shown enough to me that I think he'll likely do more than either Bialecki, who's had a really quiet season but finally won his card, or anyone else who might be eligible (Slevin and Meikle were the only ones in the top 64, Rafferty is the only one outside who I think could be a realistic shout). This would have been the easiest Dom Taylor pick in the world if we knew if/when he'll be playing again, but we don't and we don't, so much like I didn't select Corey Cadby that year he won his card back on account of not knowing how often he'll actually play, I won't select Taylor.

Q-School is under way, some good names in McGuirk, Brooks and Hopp getting through straight away on day 1, quite a few familiar names looking like they'll already be good on points, I missed the cutoff to go with a full list of picks, but I'll go with them when we get to the start of Q2.