The English-born McGladdery makes his international debut at the meet, along with his NSW teammate Daniel Sim.

McGladdery said playing for Australia was a dream come true.

“Oh yeah I am very much looking forward to it,” he said before flying out.

“It’s going to be a big honour.

“I’m very excited and when I was picked I was over the moon.”

While he hasn’t played for Australia before, big tournaments are nothing new for the 39-year-old.

He has been a regular on the elite Darts Players Australia tour for the past few years and is ranked number 14 in the country.

He travels all around Australia to play in the top tournaments about twice a month during the January to October darts season.

McGladdery credits his English upbringing for his love of darts.

“It is pretty much a national sport over there,” he said.

“Huge numbers play darts.”

McGladdery said he was not sure of the format this weekend’s competition would take but he said he would probably be required to play singles, doubles as teams, in line with most other darts tournaments.

He used to play darts in the Highlands, but now travels to Wollongong every Tuesday night for matches.