Maximum Hunters: Ranking the Men Circling Maguire's 147 Throne

The maximum break used to be a rarity you talked about for a week. Now it is a running subplot of the entire tour, and every arena in Britain seems to hold its breath when a player reaches the sixth or seventh red with the pack still friendly. Six weeks into the 2026-27 campaign, the question worth asking is not whether another 147 will land — it will — but who is genuinely best placed to take that particular crown away from Stephen Maguire.

This is not a trophy. It is a reputation, and reputations are harder to prize away than silverware. Maguire has spent the best part of two decades building a case as the man you would pick to make a maximum in a phone box, and the last few seasons have only hardened that case. So who is actually hunting him?

How we have weighted this

There is no official 147 table that tells you who is most likely to make the next one, because maximums are freak events dressed up as skill. So we have used proxies: century rate per frame, scoring speed when in the balls, how often a player goes for the ambitious red rather than the safe one, recent maximum attempts (a proxy for intent as much as ability), and big-match temperament — because a 147 at 9-9 in a ranking final is a different animal to one at 4-0 up in a qualifier.

The caveat is obvious and worth stating plainly: no single number captures intent. Two players can have identical century rates and completely different relationships with the maximum. One sees the pack open and starts counting. The other sees it and plays the percentage. Maguire, for what it is worth, has always been in the first camp.

1. Judd Trump

If anyone has the raw equipment to out-maximum Maguire, it is Trump. His century rate remains among the very best on tour, his scoring speed flattens the game, and he has the one trait that maximums demand above all else: he genuinely believes he can make every ball. The worry with Trump has never been capability. It has been appetite. There are frames where he looks like he would rather make three seventies and get to bed than grind out a 147 for the crowd.

When he is engaged, though, the tables look too small for him. In the quicker best-of-seven formats he is the most likely man on the planet to string fourteen reds and blacks together before anyone has settled into their seat. If you are ranking threats rather than certainties, he tops the list.

2. Ronnie O'Sullivan

It feels almost rude to place him anywhere other than first, but the honest read in 2026 is that O'Sullivan's maximums now come in concentrated bursts rather than as a standing threat. His century rate remains elite — it always will be — and the cueing is still the cleanest in the sport. The difference is scheduling and motivation. He picks his moments, and he has made no secret of the fact that a 147 only interests him when the mood and the occasion align.

Give him a big stage, a receptive crowd and a quick table, and he is still the most frightening man in the building once he reaches six or seven reds. The crown, though, rewards consistency, and that is where Maguire edges him.

3. Neil Robertson

Robertson is the quietest elite contender and possibly the most technically suited to maximums of anyone on tour. His positional play is so economical that he does not need to force the issue — the reds seem to fall into the right places for him. His century rate has been steadily strong, and he has a habit of making big breaks look like admin.

Where he slips is in the aggression column. Robertson is happy to make a controlled 70 and win the frame. That is a virtue in matchplay and a small handicap in a maximum race. Still, on a fast table with the pack sitting kindly, he is a genuine threat.

4. Kyren Wilson

Wilson has quietly become one of the tour's most reliable heavy scorers, and his temperament in big matches is now a genuine asset rather than a question mark. He does not blink on the big stage, and a 147 requires a certain stubbornness in the closing reds — the bit where the nerves arrive and the pockets appear to shrink.

His maximum attempts have been more frequent than his conversion rate suggests, which tells you he has the intent. If he sharpens the endgame, he is a serious contender to take the crown.

5. Zhao Xintong

A pure talent pick, and a legitimate one. Zhao's scoring bursts are among the most thrilling in the sport, and his century rate when he is in rhythm is devastating. Maximums suit his game because they reward fluency over caution, and he has plenty of the former.

The knock is consistency across a season, not across a break. When he is on, he could make a 147 in a final and barely change expression. When he is off, he goes out in the first round. Ranking him fifth is a bet on the upside.

6. Luca Brecel and the dark horses

Brecel belongs in the conversation purely because he will attempt shots nobody else will, and a maximum is often the by-product of exactly that mentality. Behind him sit the likes of Si Jiahui, Jack Lisowski and the younger brigade — players whose century rates are climbing and whose shot selection is fearless. Stan Moody is the name to watch in the medium term; his break-building has matured noticeably and he plays without the caution that kills maximum attempts.

Where Maguire still holds the edge

The Scotsman's advantage is not raw century rate — several players on this list can match him there. It is the combination of intent, technique and a certain granite indifference to the occasion. Maguire has made maximums in pressure situations and shrugged them off afterwards, and that attitude is worth more than any metric. He treats a 147 as a job of work rather than a coronation, and that is precisely why he keeps making them.

Where the next maximum comes from

If you want a single bet for the next 147 of the 2026-27 season, aim at a fast-table ranking event with a lively crowd and a short-format early round. That is where Trump and Zhao do their most damaging work, and it is where the pack tends to sit kindly. A York or a Barbican night would not surprise anyone either — the big arenas seem to summon the maximum out of players.

The verdict

Maguire still wears the crown, but the gap is narrowing and the hunting pack is younger than it has been in years. Trump is the most likely to snatch it outright; O'Sullivan is the most likely to do it in a single, unforgettable week. Until one of them actually does it, the maximum man remains the one from Glasgow.