‘Unsmiling assassin’: Dolphins fired by rolling Stone
Joel Gould |
The Dolphins wouldn’t swap their stoney-faced ray of death for the world.
Meet Ray Stone. He’s old school.
On Friday night the 27-year-old forward made of granite was a match-winner with two second-half tries in the 42-22 thumping of Melbourne.
He finished both off like an extra from the TV show Vikings, charging into battle to honour hammer-wielding god of thunder Thor.
They were “Phins Up” moments to savour. Not that Stone got carried away. Instead of jumping for joy he had an icy stare, like someone had stolen his very old-school black footy boots.
“Ray should have played in the 1980s,” Dolphins CEO Terry Reader told AAP.
Reader is on the money. You could imagine Stone slapping faces with Tommy Raudonikis in a pre-game Western Suburbs dressing room before going out and cutting in half anything in a Manly jersey.
“Whenever Ray comes on the field you see someone get folded in half,” Reader said.
“You go, ‘who was that?’ And of course it was Ray Stone. He always makes an impact when he comes on and is worth his weight in gold to the club.”
The “unsmiling assassin” is one of a kind.
In 2023 Stone was coming back from a broken hand and was seen by a club official gazing at it. He was asked if everything was OK.
“Yes,” he replied.
“I just want to get out there and fold blokes.”
He did that against the Storm, with 24 tackles and none missed. Throw in his 134m and two tries and it was a Stone classic. For one of his tries he was in position for a pass from star fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, the “Hammer”, after he caught a bomb. It was a real effort play.
Effervescent Dolphins prop Josh Kerr, the complete opposite of Stone, had his tongue in cheek when asked about his teammate.
“The axe murderer? He’s a dead-set psychopath,” Kerr grinned.
“I don’t think he feels tiredness or weakness or anything in his body.
“He’s just that guy you want to play with. He does all things.
“He chased that kick with Hammer. He doesn’t need to be there, but he was the one. You’d think Herbie (Farnworth) or somebody fast, an outside back, would be there. That’s why he’s the guy you want to play with week in, week out, you know what I mean?”
So does Stone ever smile?
“He does, mate. Get a few beers into him and he’ll smile pretty well,” Kerr chuckled.
“He’s an absolute legend, he’s one of those blokes you love having around.”
After the match Stone found a beer and polished it off quickly. A second followed after his teammates said he should celebrate his two tries.
With a beer in hand, he told AAP that smiling after tries was not on his to-do list.
“I don’t play to score tries,” Stone sad.
“I celebrate at the end of the game once we’ve won. Scoring tries doesn’t bother me too much, so long as we win.
“As long as the boys know I am going to turn up for them and do my best every week, that’s all I can do.”
Stone also played down the speed he showed to finish both of his tries.
“I don’t get into sprints,” he shrugged.
“I was nearly tripping over for one of them. I just want to do my job.
“The way we played as a team is why we won. I don’t think it was off the back of anything I did.”
AAP
