Ross Smith Wants a Premier League Place. He's Got a Point

Ross Smith thinks he belongs in the Premier League. After the autumn he's had, I find that a perfectly reasonable argument. If we're talking about players earning their place through results, his name ought to be in that conversation.

Smith told Sky Sports on Thursday that he believes he should be included, while recognising the choice isn't his. I like that balance. Make your case, then get back to playing. Spending every match wondering what it means for an invitation sounds exhausting.

His case has substance. He won September's World Series of Darts Finals and then added a second European Championship title last month. The PDC's pre-Grand Slam interview puts him at a career-high sixth in the world.

The next match still needs winning

What interests me most is how Smith talks about the less spectacular side of success. In the PDC interview, he acknowledged that his European title hadn't come from playing brilliantly throughout. He valued finding a way through when the darts weren't quite as good.

That's something I enjoy seeing in a player. Huge averages get our attention, but winning on the days when everything feels harder tells us something too. You can't save all your progress for the evenings when the treble looks enormous.

The Grand Slam begins tomorrow, 14 November. For Smith, that means another chance to put results alongside the Premier League discussion. I don't think he needs to spend the tournament giving us a running argument for selection. The matches will be interesting enough on their own.

Would I put him in the conversation? Absolutely. Would I call an invitation settled? No. His comments are a player's case for inclusion, not a selection announcement.

For now, I'm looking forward to seeing how he carries this confidence into Wolverhampton. He's given us reasons to pay attention beyond the usual names. I'd rather enjoy that than turn every missed double into a verdict on next year's Premier League.

Image: DARTS NOW / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · archive, 8 October 2024.