MARDLE FEARS ROCK SLUMP COULD SPIRAL

WAYNE MARDLE fears Josh Rock’s Premier League nightmare could spiral into other events.

‘Rocky’ remains winless after SEVEN matches on debut in the major tournament and sits bottom of the table on zero points. 

World No.7 Rock was on the receiving end of a crushing 6-0 defeat to Gerwyn Price in Dublin, where he averaged just 84.21. 

Former pro Mardle admits he is concerned the ongoing slump could begin to impact Rock beyond the weekly roadshow.

He said: “I really feel for Josh at this point. What is going to happen now is that it’s going to go two ways. 

“Is he going to let this slide into the other events and start playing poorly in them because he is losing confidence in the Premier League? 

“Or he’s carrying on — at the moment, he is playing well away from the Premier League. 

“You can’t let one seep into the other. Hopefully, he has got the strength of mind to continue playing well elsewhere. 

“Then finally kick it here. But he does not look a confident man at all. There were some of the darts that he had thrown — you can see he is trying to throw them firm. 

“Which is great, but they are not going in.” 

The Sky Sports pundit believes Rock is struggling with the intensity and won’t recognise just how poorly he is performing. 

He added: “Every chance he is getting — which is very limited, by the way — he is fluffing his lines on doubles because the pressure is too much. 

“He needs one of those games where someone just misses against him and he has a decent game. 

“But that has not happened as yet. His standard — he won’t believe how bad he is playing. You can picture whoever you want being last and you could be right. 

“But no one has pictured him playing as poorly as he is. It is not pleasant to see.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.