Few darts players have known Luke Littler longer than Michael Smith.
The pair both have strong links to St Helens – a darting hotbed – and played as youngsters in the St Helens Darts academy.
As senior professionals the duo have clashed ten times, equally sharing the spoils.
Despite travelling the world together on the Premier League and World Series circuit, Smith shared his reasons for not practising with the teenager.
This is in contrast to Luke Humphries who revealed he always practised with his rival prior to Premier League games.
Michael Smith says he will give advice to Luke Littler if needed
The former World Champion has recently moved house near to where ‘The Nuke’ resides.
Speaking to DartStream LIVE, Smith opened up on his thoughts about the 17-year-old.
He said: “Luke is a good boy. I’ve known him since he was about 10 years old, playing in my league in St Helens.
“I just moved five minutes from where he lives. The only thing we could find was on the border near Luke.”
He added: “I still don’t practise with him or anything like that. I’ve known him from being a young boy and I’ll give him advice if he needs it, but you can see what he’s doing now, he doesn’t need it.”
Littler must be wary of lack of practice
Littler has been open about his long spells without practice.
He admitted to watching Manchester City versus Liverpool before lifting his first Euro Tour title in Belgium, and not throwing a dart before returning from holiday to win in Poland.
World Champion Luke Humphries has previously warned Littler that long lapses in practice could start to affect his game.
The darting calendar is so saturated, however, that the youngster can keep off the rust merely from playing the PDC circuit.
Irrespective of Littler’s success and practice regimes, it’s refreshing to see both Smith and Humphries offering advice to the Premier League Champion.
Though they are all rivals on the oche, elite sport can be a brutal beast and Littler will need support as his career and life develops.