The MODUS Super Series moves into Week 8, and once again there is a really interesting 12-player field heading to Portsmouth.
The early market has Scott Robertson at the head of the betting, followed by Reece Robinson and Jake Neale, but this is another week where I think the Q4QS database adds quite a bit of context beyond simply looking at the prices.
Robertson's position certainly isn't difficult to understand. He is comfortably the highest-ranked player in the field according to Q4QS and has produced some outstanding numbers in 2026.
But behind him there are players arriving on winning streaks, recent Vault champions and a few whose latest figures suggest they could be considerably more dangerous than their position in the market might indicate.
As always, this isn't a tipping exercise. The odds are useful because they give us another way of looking at how the field is perceived before a dart is thrown.
And this week there are a few interesting differences between that perception and the recent results.
Robertson sets the standard
Scott Robertson is the clear No.1 in this field according to the Q4QS rankings.
Robertson sits at Q4QS No.39, with an 87.80 Q4QS Average, and has won eight of his latest ten recorded matches.
The standout result is his victory at the Denmark Open & Masters, where he went 8–0 with a 92.50 tournament average. That run included a 103.58 average in beating Neil Duff and a 103.88 against Danny Jansen.
And it hasn't been a case of one exceptional tournament surrounded by ordinary results.
His recent record includes a Swedish Open quarter-final where he averaged 96.62, another Swedish Open semi-final, and a semi-final at the Welsh Open, Masters & Classic.
Robertson is the early 3.75 favourite and, unlike some of the prices I looked at in Week 7, the Q4QS data provides plenty of evidence for why he is at the top of the market.
Johnny Haines arrives 10–0
If we're looking for the strongest current winning sequence, though, we have to talk about Johnny Haines.
Haines is currently 10–0 in the Q4QS database and has won his last two recorded tournaments.
One of those victories came with an excellent 88.09 tournament average, while his individual performances include a remarkable 115.62 match average as well as scores of 92.02 and 90.18.
Go back a little further and the consistency becomes even more apparent.
Before those two victories, Haines had reached a final and two semi-finals. His last five recorded events therefore read:
Semi-final – Semi-final – Final – Winner – Winner.
At 9.50 in the early market, Haines is one of the players whose recent results particularly caught my attention.
Steve West is winning for fun
Then we come to Steve West, whose recent tournament record might be even more impressive.
West's latest five events contain three victories and a final.
He won a Vault 19 event at Fareham with an 88.30 tournament average, including a 105.44 match average against Lloyd Walker. He's now 9–1 across his latest ten recorded matches.
His previous events include tournament averages of 88.24, 85.32 and 84.43, so there is a substantial body of recent scoring form behind that winning record.
West is 9.50 in the early market alongside Haines, and both arrive with significantly stronger recent winning records than many players priced ahead of them.
Lewis Cook brings another strong Q4QS ranking
Lewis Cook is the second-highest Q4QS-ranked player in the field at No.98, with an 83.66 Q4QS Average.
He's also 8–2 recently and has been extremely busy.
Cook won a recent Vault 19 tournament at Legends Sports and Pool Bar with an 80.52 average and then reached another final there. His recent ADC Championship South appearances have also included tournament averages of 83.94 and 79.76.
The early market has Cook at 21.00.
Again, I'm not suggesting that automatically makes him a bet. But when the second-highest ranked Q4QS player in the field is that far down the market, it's certainly worth highlighting in a preview.
Winder has already beaten quality opposition
Scott Winder is another whose price and Q4QS position don't immediately line up.
Winder is Q4QS No.353 and 8–2 recently. More importantly, he has already shown he can win a strong event.
He took ADC Winmau Championship North Event 7, going 7–0, and among his victories was a 5–0 win over Daniel Ayres with a 91.65 average.
There is a caveat here: Winder currently has only five qualifying events in the database, so he doesn't yet have an official Q4QS Average.
But at an early price of 29.00, he's another interesting example of why it's worth looking beyond the headline market.
Whitehead still has a big ceiling
Conan Whitehead hasn't been collecting titles like Haines or West, but there is enough in his numbers to make him interesting.
He's Q4QS No.442 with an 80.47 average and a 7–3 recent record.
His best recent ADC Championship South run came with an 87.83 tournament average, while individual performances include 103.66, 92.49 and 89.83.
The question is consistency. His latest recorded event was much quieter, but the higher-end numbers show what he's capable of producing.
Neale knows how to win
Jake Neale is third in the early market at 7.50, and there is title-winning form in his Q4QS record.
Neale has won two of the five latest events in the database, including a Vault 17 tournament at the County Con's Club where he went 7–0 with an 80.54 average.
His two most recent Vault 18 and 19 appearances have been less successful, however, with averages dropping to 67.98 and 69.79.
That makes him an interesting player to assess this week: there is proven winning form there, but he'll be looking to rediscover the level that produced those earlier titles.
Owens could be better than his ranking suggests
One player whose overall Q4QS numbers need a little context is Jamie Owens.
He's ranked No.3120 with a 72.12 Q4QS Average, but his latest ADC Championship North performances look very different.
Owens averaged 93.53 in Event 6, 85.08 in Event 7 and then reached the quarter-finals of Event 8 with an 85.86 tournament average.
That latest run included a 95.52 average in a 5–2 win over Alan Slater.
Those recent ADC numbers are probably much more relevant to his Week 8 prospects than the overall ranking alone.
The rest of the field
There are some unknowns and smaller samples to consider.
Reece Robinson is second favourite in the early market at 5.50, but the Q4QS database currently has only one event for him. That was the UKDA National Finals, where he averaged 86.58 across two matches and beat Anthony Paul Hitchen with an 87.31 average. That's encouraging, but nowhere near enough data to make a meaningful comparison with players for whom I have dozens of results.
Francesco Basili has shown improvement in Development Tour competition, including a 75.04 event average on his best recent run, while American Chuck Puleo reached the Last 64 of the WDF World Masters, averaging 74.12 across his three recorded matches.
Scott Taylor, meanwhile, has a 7–3 recent record. His latest Vault numbers have been relatively modest, although earlier Challenge Tour performances included event averages of 83.41 and 82.21.
Do the early odds tell the whole story?
The early market has Robertson at 3.75, followed by Robinson at 5.50, Neale at 7.50, Taylor at 8.50, Haines and West at 9.50 and Owens at 10.00.
Further out are Whitehead at 19.00, Cook at 21.00, Basili at 23.00, Winder at 29.00 and Puleo at 34.00.
As with last week's preview, I think comparing those prices with the database is interesting rather than something that needs to turn into betting advice.
Robertson's position at the top is strongly supported by the Q4QS data.
After that, however, it becomes much less straightforward.
Haines is 10–0 and has won his last two. West is 9–1 with three wins and a final among his last five events. Cook is the Q4QS No.98 and arrives 8–2. Winder is also 8–2 and has recently won an ADC Championship event.
That doesn't make any of them more or less likely to win than the prices suggest – but it does show why this Week 8 field deserves a closer look than the market order alone.
Six Players to Follow
Scott Robertson
The benchmark. Q4QS No.39, an 87.80 Q4QS Average and a recent tournament victory averaging 92.50.
Johnny Haines
Perhaps the form story of the week. He's 10–0 and his last five events have produced two semi-finals, a final and two wins.
Steve West
Three wins and a final from his latest five tournaments, with some excellent mid-to-high 80s event averages along the way.
Lewis Cook
The second-highest ranked Q4QS player in the field, currently 8–2 and with a recent Vault 19 victory and final.
Scott Winder
An ADC Championship North event winner who has already shown he can beat strong opposition when he's at his best.
Jamie Owens
His overall numbers disguise some much stronger recent form, including three consecutive ADC Championship North event averages above 85.
A strong Week 8
What I like about this field is that there isn't just one type of contender.
Robertson brings the strongest overall Q4QS numbers. Haines and West bring outstanding winning form. Cook and Winder have strong rankings and recent titles. Owens has suddenly started producing numbers well above his overall database average.
Then there are players such as Robinson where the Q4QS sample is simply too small for me to make any firm assessment yet.
That should make Week 8 particularly useful from a Q4QS point of view too. By the end of the week we'll know considerably more about several of these players.
For now, Scott Robertson sets the standard – but there is enough winning form throughout this field to suggest he won't have things all his own way.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.