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Australian darts masters 2026

A Weekend in The Gong with 4500 of Your Closest, Weirdest Friends

The Australian Darts Masters rolled into Wollongong over the weekend and, as always, the darts crowd proved that sporting fandom is less about team colours and more about how committed you are to wearing something you would never admit to owning! Friday’s preliminary rounds drew around 3300 people, many of whom arrived dressed as Ali G. Not just a handful either. It was like someone shook a giant snow globe full of yellow tracksuits and sunglasses straight over the 'Gong'.

Saturday night took things up a level. A full house of 4500 fans poured into the WIN Entertainment Centre and roughly three quarters of them were in costume. You could not walk ten metres without bumping into a Power Ranger, a Mario, a Luigi, or a man proudly dressed as Princess Peach. A gang of Donald Trumps wandered around looking confused (and briefly seemed to have a disagreement with a pack of Vikings... something about Greenland), a pack of Erling Haalands marched in formation with blonde wigs and Norwegian jerseys, and crayons of every colour mingled. The most darts thing of all was a seventy year old bloke, unshaven, strolling around in a Telly Tubby suit like it was the most natural outfit in the world. Surreal barely covers it.

The darts themselves were a mix of predictable dominance from the PDC professionals and spirited efforts from the Oceania challengers. Ben Robb should have taken his match, Ray Smith could not quite replicate his form from New Zealand, and James Wade reminded everyone why he is called The Machine. His Friday night average of 112 was the sort of number would have held up in almost any event in the world, let alone an exhibition like the Australian Darts Masters. Brutal for Tim Pusey, brilliant for everyone else watching.  Mind you, you wouldn't have known it, with Pusey lapping up the centre stage attention and seemingly enjoying the brilliance of his opponent as much as anyone else. 

But the weekend belonged to Victorian Brodie Klinge. He lit up the venue from the moment he stepped on stage. First came a nail-biting win over Ross Smith on Friday (6-5). Then he toppled world number two Gian Van Veen in the quarter final. And if that was the entree, his Big Fish finish against Johnny Clayton was the main course. He actually didn't  need to go for the 170 but he went for it anyway and when the bullseye landed the roof nearly lifted off the building. It was one of those moments that us darts nutcases will talk about for years to come.   (Worth noting he also went 6 darts into a 9 darter!)

That set up a final against Wade. Klinge fell behind 5–2 but refused to fade. He kept pushing, kept scoring, and even had the chance to tie it at 5–all. He missed by the narrowest margin and Wade, being Wade, took the opening and closed out the match. It was Wade's first World Series title after more than forty appearances, a long overdue reward for one of the sport’s most reliable performers (and quite frankly entertaining too!).

You can watch all the best checkouts from the event in the video below.  

If you have never been to a World Series event, you should fix that. The Gong is a cracking place to spend a weekend and the darts on display was world class. You will laugh, you will cheer, you will question humanity’s relationship with fancy dress, and you will absolutely enjoy yourself.