Peter Wright has endured a torrid time in 2024.
He finished rock bottom of the Premier League for the second consecutive year and suffered opening round defeats at both the World Championship and World Matchplay.
The former world number one has plummeted to 12th in the order of merit and his place in the coveted top 16 appears in jeopardy.
Many facets of ‘Snakebite’s’ game have been scrutinised since the start of last year, but pundit Matt Edgar thinks he knows the reason Wright is struggling for results.
Matt Edgar highlights combination finishing as Peter Wright’s problem
Wright has looked okay in spells this year but has been unable to get every part of his game functioning simultaneously.
In his defeat to Andrew Gilding at the World Matchplay, he checked out at a mere 25%.
On his YouTube channel, Edgar noted this as his Achilles heel at the moment.
He said: “The performance is there at the moment in terms of stats and numbers. But the gameplay isn’t in the throw by throw the moments.
“When you have two darts in hand, those shots that Peter Wright was taking. The 74s the 86s, the bread and butter shots are letting him down at the moment.”
Wright lost to ‘Goldfinger’ 10-5 in Blackpool despite having more attempts at double.
Peter Wright still has time to turn things around
It’s easy for panic to set in if you’re a fan of the former two-time World Champion, but he has time to turn things around.
Despite a plethora of major rankings events on the horizon in the latter half of the year, he is defending little prize money.
Consequently, he is provisionally the world number 10 following the 2025 World Championship – two places higher than his current position.
For comparison, Michael Smith is a mere one spot and £2k ahead of him in ninth spot.
The Scotsman has put in some good displays this year and his scoring power is slowly coming back.
If the 54-year-old can put the pieces of the jigsaw back together between now and October’s World Grand Prix, there may be more left in the tank for ‘Snakey’.