Mitchell Lawrie and Luke Littler
Mitchell Lawrie and Luke Littler

Who can stop Luke Littler's dominance? Paul Nicholson names Littler's next big rival, but he's not even on the PDC Tour yet

Darts
Thu August 27, 2026 · 2M ago

Paul Nicholson doesn't think anyone currently on the PDC Tour will ever be able to consistently stop Luke Littler's reign of dominance - but he has named a future star who could.

I think if you'd asked me who can stop Luke Littler about 12 months ago, I would have said Luke Humphries.

And although it’s not been a bad year for Cool Hand, it’s become even more obvious in 2026 that Littler is operating on a different planet compared to everyone else.

The Nuke can obviously lose the odd game here and there in shorter formats, but when it comes to the major televised tournaments, it’s become an increasingly rare occurrence.

Even more worry for everyone else, he’s still improving.

As things stand, the likes of Humphries, Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen will be fortunate to win one or two majors between them per season.

Paul Nicholson on Mitchell Lawrie

It’s got to the point where his rivals are relieved when he takes a break, such as during Players Championship events and some of the events on the European and World Series Tours.

They are the only times when everyone else thinks they’ve got a good chance of winning something!

He’s a once-in-a-generation dart player doing things other greats can’t, which is why we’re putting him in the peak Phil Taylor and prime MVG bracket.

It’s funny to think Mike de Decker and Ritchie Edhouse won their major titles in Littler’s maiden season on the tour. They snuck into the winners’ circle just in the nick of time before Littler hit full stride and now those days seem a hell of a long time ago now.

So if nobody currently on the scene is going to be able to end his dominance, who can?

Who is Littler’s next big rival?

The player that could potentially challenge him in the next five years is in the junior ranks.

They are only just starting to come through but we are seeing more resounding evidence these days that young children are retaining higher levels than ever.

Even bigger levels than Littler did when he was between the ages of 13 and 15.

Now there’s plenty of potential stars out there but the one we’re getting most excited about is Mitchell Lawrie.

At the age of 15 he’s already the WDF number 1, he wins pretty much wherever he goes and has already made a Lakeside final, which is something Littler didn't do.

Littler played at the 2022 Lakeside Championship and lost – albeit to Richard Veenstra’s Lakeside record average – whereas Lawrie got all the way to the final before losing to Jimmy van Schie.

We knew back then Littler was an extremely promising young player but I doubt anyone thought that within 18 months he'd be the most talked about player in the world.

So if Mitchell Lawrie is on the same roadmap as Littler, then we’re in for a spectacular rivalry in the coming few years.

I think he's eligible for the Development Tour next year, because he's 15 now and then we’ll have more of an indication of what he can do in a PDC environment – but right now, the signs are looking good.

We all love an England v Scotland rivalry and we’ve had some crackers in the past such as Bristow v Jocky in the 1980s but Littler v Lawrie will be potentially off the charts in terms of the standards they’ll be throwing at each other.

It’s incredible to think that even if Lawrie does follow Littler’s footsteps, by the time he’s ready to challenge for PDC majors, Littler could be a three, four or five-time world champion and he’d still only be in his early 20s!

They are still relatively close in age so by the time they’re both in their 30s, who knows how many major titles they’ll both have racked up.

What was Littler doing at 15 compared to Lawrie?

Admittedly, all this talk of Lawrie becoming a genuine rival in a few years is still speculative but we can look at data to see how he compares to where Littler was at 15.

And it’s a lot fairer than when we try to compare players from completely different generations when they were using different equipment and coming up against lower calibre of opposition.

So, right now, Lawrie is the WDF number one and hot favourite to win the Lakeside title at the age of 15.

That alone is something Littler didn’t get close to doing.

Now let’s look at the averages.

When it comes to recorded averages in tournaments, Lawrie’s highest is an incredible 112.73, whereas Littler’s at 15 was just over 100.

In total, Lawrie has already managed 22 recorded averages over 100 compared to the one that Littler had achieved.

That came in the quarter-finals of the JDC World Championship that year when averaging 100.2 so it’s fair to say he hadn’t yet popped.

I must stress that ‘recorded’ is the key word here. They both would have averaged over 100 in tournaments not covered by Dart Connect but even so, this is a fair comparison to show just how promising Mitchell Lawrie really is.

When will Lawrie meet Littler?

I’m hoping Lawrie takes his time and takes a leaf out of Beau Greaves’ book.

She took each step at a time despite all the pressure and hype around her to rush into the PDC and start competing against the men.

Now look at her.

She’s plotted her own patient route and continues to prove you don’t have to jump in at the deep end just because everyone else and the media is impatient!

He doesn't have to go to Q School and get a tour card immediately.

He can just focus on this level for another year, enjoy the Development Tour and also show everyone what he can do in the Modus Super Series – just like Littler did.

Those experiences and achievements were so instrumental in him building himself as a player and I believe Lawrie has to do the same.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are other talented youngsters such as Jack Johnson, Kaya Baysal and Archie Self.

But right now based on all the evidence in front of us, I think Mitchell is the natural rival for Littler. And we won’t have to wait too long to see it unfold.

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