He is just not playing his best darts of late, I see he has a shoulder problem still which obviously wont be helping, and the recent loss of his Father will no doubt have some bearing on his Psychological side.

If his shoulder has a persistent injury then he really needs time away from the game to get it sorted properly. I think a lot of sportsmen lose something when injury has affected them, even after treatment it is usually never quite the same.

One thing the commentators were talking about, well Rod Harrington in particular was how quickly he fires in his first dart, at one point I actually winced as I thought the dart was going to hit Painter was probably just the camera angle, but I really think he should wait a bit longer till the opponent is out of the way totally.

Not saying thats the cause of his recent form just something I think he should do in the future.

I prefer to see all the players playing at their best as I'm sure everyone does, but he has not done much for weeks now.

True mate, watched the PL for the first time in 6 weeks today.. nothing new in regards to Garys game.. a shame really

We know he doesn't practise his doubles, but I reckon it's all down to his personal life - as well as his dad dying a couple of weeks back don't forget his younger brother died as well towards the end of last year

Oh yeah I forgot about his brother too, well that kind of emotional upset will not help, but I think he has something wrong with that shoulder too which warrants attention.

Gary's a great player but his heart and head not in the game right now and who can blame him really.

class is permanent he will be back before long no worries

martin reggie perring wrote:

class is permanent he will be back before long no worries

I'm sure he will, I do like his action but I wonder if thats the cause of his shoulder problem?, if so and he has to alter it to avoid the injury re-ocurring will he be able to play as good?

well he reckons his shoulder aint too bad..he says he throws the darts one way and they are going the other loll...he played well at times last weekend..

martin reggie perring wrote:

well he reckons his shoulder aint too bad..he says he throws the darts one way and they are going the other loll...he played well at times last weekend..

I experience that feeling often!

He just doesn't look the same player.

Well he played a lot better in last weeks PL so maybe things are picking up for him now.

Shoulder injuries are very tricky sometimes.