The 2022/23 Cazoo PDC World Darts Championship

They'd want to cop on with the best final ever talk now. Very good of course but not sure if it'd be top 5 even.

Smith could really be a dominant player, don't think anyone doubted his talent but that mental toughness is now there

Great stuff from Smith... won a couple of sets from 0-2, including the last, and started the final leg 180, 180. He bounces back much quicker now from poor patches.

Top class from MVG in the post match interviews.

Jaysus, Paddy won't sleep tonight!

It is a different sport though really since the early 00s. Manley and Painter had lousy timing with the downfall of the game.

The field is far more competitive and more financially driven than it was back then.

It does enhance the success of players like Smith,MVG,Wright though. Winning it in a field of 96 and a gruelling year long tour.

Great night of it.

Anyone know when Premier League players are announced?

Usually more or less immediately after the final finishes

I'd suggest that players these days look after themselves far more than they did even 20 years ago. More and more players are able to play professionally these days due to the money available also. Therefore able to put more hours into practice. Years ago most players probably had real jobs.

Technology has also improved. Dart Boards and darts themselves are far better than they were.

All these factors will contribute to a general increase in standard.

Smith was more solid and deserved the win. He’s a different animal since the Grand Slam.

Considering how dominant he’s been MVG has not won enough World titles. 3 wins and now 3 defeats in finals. I think leg play seems to suit him better than sets. (Although he does have 6 Grand Prix’s but the double start there makes it different again).

Was a normal enough final averages wise and standard. Certainly not the greatest final of all time or anything like it.

The standard these days is way over played. This was a dreadful tournament for close games and top notch play. Few and far between to say the least.

Peak Taylor would have mopped the floor with everyone.

Taylor is still the better player but half of his title wins were in limited with players that were past their best or limited. Not to mention 10-11 were won in 32 player comps.

It would have been a lot harder for him to build a legacy had he started out in the mid to late 00s like MVG.

It looked a bit as if MVG burned himself out getting to the final in the manner he did (perhaps the draw comes into play?).

Smith definitely seemed to have learned from that mistake from his last two finals; peaking very nicely into the tournament. (Anyone know if he is with a sports psycologist/Ex-Pro?).

Albeit, Smith was very lucky to get out of the Schindler match, and then Bunting gifted him a late Christmas present.

Standard-wise, was it the best?; probably not; was it the worst absolutely not.

I personally thought the close games came at the wrong end of the tournament, as did hammerings.

A 6-0, 6-2 set of semi's, in addition to a 5-0, 5-1 quarter may have soured things for those of us more versed in competitive darts.

For a tournament that looked like 800 maximums was in trouble on Christmas Day, to a tournament where the spread betting firms mid-pointed 921 on New Years Day; shows the class at the top end.

A great renewal for me, I hope the coming season and indeed next Year can live up to it again!

It was probably on course to be one of if not the greatest final ever untill the 5th/6th set when both players started peppering the 1 and 5 which hurt the averages a fair bit, mvg really tapered off then also. Delighted for Smith!

Correct. He's a very bad winner.

There's half an hour of highlights on you tube.

Oh, we've the basic Sky Q package (HATE Sky Q, what a step backwards) so not sure, but I'll give it a look, cheers!

So we do have Mix, but for some reason after talking about MvG, and now it's showing beach soccer for the last 15 min.... wtf?!

Will wait till its over and rematch! Cheers for the advice though!

No, it's on. But during the match, every time there's an ad break, they show 15 minutes of something random, like beach soccer, golf, and then go back to the next Set as if nothing happened. It's crazy. So much that we didn't get to most of it so have it recorded to fast forward those bits. First few sets were pretty good, with possibly the best leg I've ever seen in darts, followed by some terrible finishing misses! Looking forward to the rest of it though. 16 180's and only in the 4th set. Madness!