JOE Cullen admits he couldn’t have a much tougher draw for the first round of the World Matchplay, but the Bradford thrower accepts that is par for the course in this elite event.

The darts major gets underway on Saturday in Blackpool, with Cullen’s first game on Sunday against Damon Heta, who won the World Cup alongside Simon Whitlock for Australia last month.

Cullen said: “The first round draw could have been kinder.

“Damon won that World Cup with Australia, but he’s also the number one qualifier, after finishing top of the ProTour’s Order of Merit.

“Statistically, it’s the toughest draw I could have had, and Damon’s been playing some great darts this year, but then I’ve done okay myself.”

Cullen has struggled at past World Matchplays, only getting beyond the second round once in seven attempts, a quarter-final appearance in 2018.

But he said: “I know it’s a cliche, but it’s tough, because everybody there is a top, top player (the top 16 in the world and the top 16 from the Order of Merit).

“It’s not like the World Championships, where you might get a favourable draw early on, here you’re straight in against someone good.

“Some great players have struggled in this tournament. Jonny Clayton’s only won one game on the stage here and Chris Dobey has never won any.”

Cullen hopes to use his breakthrough Masters triumph in January to inspire him in Blackpool this month.

He said: “I prefer the matchplay format (first to x number of legs), which is funny because sets should be more favourable.

“With them, you can lose the first seven or eight legs and only be two sets down, whereas do that here and it’s a long way back.

“But this is a tournament I enjoy, and the Masters has a similar set-up, so hopefully my experience of winning that serves me well here.”

The Wyke thrower is a big fan of the Winter Gardens venue for the World Matchplay, but he admitted it might be a bit uncomfortable on Sunday.

He explained: “I do like it usually, but I think it’ll be a bit different this weekend.

“It’s hot there at the best of times, probably the hottest venue we play in, and I know Sunday is meant to be one of the hottest days on record.

“I usually take a spare top but I’ll probably take a spare pair of trousers too since it’ll be mega hot.

“I’ve put a bit of weight on recently but luckily I’m still one of the slimmer guys playing, so it’ll be even harder this weekend and on Monday and Tuesday for some of the bigger guys.”

Apart from the odd exhibition and minor tournament, Cullen has had a pretty quiet month since losing 11-10 to Michael van Gerwen in a gripping Premier League final on June 13.

And he admitted: “I think that reset was much needed, because it had all been pretty full on and constant since January.

“I needed a bit of a break and it came just at the the right time.”