Justin Hood made a big impression at the last World Darts Championship, but the Englishman admits he is still waiting for a real breakthrough on the ProTour this season – and he knows exactly why. Hood concedes he isn't putting in as many training hours as he should, even as he watches Luke Littler raise the bar for the rest of the circuit.
"I've been playing well. I think throughout the year I'm 15th or 16th on the averages, over 100. I'm playing a good level," Hood told Oche180. "I get the third-day blues for the qualifiers. I seem to struggle on there, but hopefully I'll put that right next year. Better diet and just feeling better in myself." Those qualifiers usually follow two days of Players Championship action, and Hood admits the accumulation takes its toll. "Yeah, as you know, dart players aren't exactly the healthiest people. We're trying to get better with it. But three days for me, it's a long time." He added: "And especially the first event, if you didn't get through that, you're a bit down in the dumps and you've got to try and get yourself back up mentally. And sometimes it just doesn't work like that."
During the Worlds, Hood said he wanted to take his career more seriously and train more, but he admits that hasn't happened enough yet. "I haven't done what I should be doing. I think I'm playing a bit better because I'm a bit more confident after the World's and a bit more set financially. I think more players are more wary of playing me now, whereas they didn't know me last year. Yeah, I haven't put the time in as I should, but I'll come in time hopefully." The hectic darts circuit makes it tempting, Hood says, to leave the darts at home for a while. "I think it's because we're away so much. We're practising while we're away and playing darts. So when you get two or three days off, you don't really want to chuck a dart."
Hood was one of the revelations at the last World Darts Championship, reaching the quarter-finals on debut, and he is especially forthright about Littler's development. "There's no limit to how good he is. I've known Luke a long time and I thought when he got on the tour, he might struggle with losing a few games. When I knew him at MODUS, he was just dominating that and I thought, get on the Pro Tour, you're playing Michael, Gerwyn Price, Humphries at the time," said Hood. "I thought he's going to start losing a few, but he's taken to it like a duck to water and he's starting to dominate now. I think his level, he's got another 10-15 points on his average, unfortunately for us all, but we've got to try and beat him while he's playing like this and he's averaging 110 now, so I don't think I've got any hope."
Hood also notices that Littler's presence changes things behind the scenes. "Yes, Luke's not like Michael was. He doesn't walk in and make a big song and dance that he's there or he just walks in, does what he does and sits down, plays his game, then beats whoever's in front of him. I noticed a bit of a shift in people looking when he's walking in, but yes, he's just amazing anyway." Yet Hood now sees the same aura around Littler that Van Gerwen had in his absolute peak years. "Yes, exact same aura. He just doesn't make a loud noise about it. His darts do the talking. Michael's did as well, but Michael used to let you know that he was the best. Luke doesn't need to do that."
Hood doesn't find that dominance boring at all. On the contrary, a player who stands above the rest motivates him. "As a player, I love to see a dominant player because it gives us something to aim for. If it was all shared round, I'd get a bit... Well, anyone can win. Now it's like, Luke, we want to shoot for Luke. Same with Humphries. I think he's the only player in the world that can beat Luke." Hood also puts Luke Humphries in the absolute top bracket. "I know he hasn't in the last few in finals, but he can beat him. I love to see players like that. Michael, when he was doing it, and Phil, we used to love watching it." The dominance reminds Hood of earlier eras. "It makes me want to practise harder and get to their level."
Hood showed he has plenty of quality most clearly at the Worlds, where he sometimes even performs better than at the weekly floor events. He sees a logical reason for that. "I'll get there one day. It's just how much time I want to put in. The thing is, with the Worlds, I prepare for a game, then I've got potentially a week break to get ready for the next one. And on the Pro Tours, you're pretty much playing every week. So I'll go home and I'll sit down for two days and be like, oh, I'm going to be back out there soon anyway. That World Championship was only once a year." That makes it tempting to take a step back during a few days off, but at the Worlds, that mindset is different. "I want to prove a point every time I'm there. And I will again this year."
