Luke Humphries will be looking to add the Australian Darts Masters to his growing list of honours in New South Wales this weekend.

‘Cool Hand Luke’ cemented his status as the number one darts player on the planet by lifting the World Matchplay title in Blackpool last month. In doing so, Humphries became only the second player in history to win the World Matchplay trophy whilst also being the reigning champion of the world.

The Newbury ace’s performance at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool was made all the more impressive by the emphatic nature of his victories en-route to glory. Humphries averaged a tournament-high 102.04 across the event, not to mention no player hit more 180’s than him (42), with 12 of those maximums coming against Michael van Gerwen in the final.

Thus, Humphries heads Down Under as the understandable 3.0 favourite on Betfair. He should ease himself into the tournament with a comfortable win over Joe Comito, and on current form the world number one will take some stopping thereafter.

If anyone can upstage Luke Humphries at the head of the outright market, it could be familiar foe and joint 3.0 favourite Luke Littler.

‘The Nuke’ bounced back from his first-round exit at the World Matchplay in style by triumphing at Players Championship 15 in Milton Keynes last week. Remarkably, that was the Warrington wonderkid’s seventh PDC title of the year, hoovering up at least one in every month of 2024 so far. Littler had to see off no fewer than seven opponents to pick up his second Players Championship prize last week so he will jet out to Australia with confidence and belief fully restored.

On top of that, Littler has already lifted titles at the Bahrain Darts Masters, the Polish Darts Masters, the Austrian Darts Open and the Belgian Darts Open in recent months, and he will be eying up more silverware in New South Wales this weekend.

What’s more, the teenage sensation’s triumph in this year’s Premier League – where he became the youngest ever major darts champion – understandably makes him the joint favourite to go the distance Down Under.

Reigning champion Rob Cross should give us a good run for our money at 7.0 on Betfair.

Over the past 12 months, ‘Voltage’ has regularly shown the sort of form that led him to the world title in 2018. Cross claimed top honours at the Baltic Sea Darts Open in May this year, producing a remarkable comeback to defeat world champion Luke Humphries 8-6.

The Pembury-born star carried that momentum into the US Darts Masters the following month, edging out Gerwyn Price 8-7 in the New York final. The 33-year-old also finished as runner-up at both the Nordic and Polish Darts Masters during the month of June, so there is plenty of scope for him to make a deep run Down Under.

Cross would also appear to have landed on the softer side of the draw, having been paired with New Zealand’s Haupai Puha. Should Cross come through that tie, he faces a potential quarter-final clash with either Peter Wright or Simon Whitlock, a game in which Voltage would be expected to come through.

As such, Cross’ path to the latter stages looks more favourable than the other market leaders, making him an appealing option to retain his crown.