Stone: ‘I’m not too fussed about individual stuff’

Dolphins NRL hardman Ray Stone likes talking about himself as much as he enjoys a post-try celebration, preferring instead to celebrate the team’s effort in beating the Melbourne Storm last round and to focus on their next test - the Raiders this weekend.

Stone scored a double in the round-seven 42-22 win over the Storm at Suncorp Stadium and was tireless in defence, but he’s not keen to focus on his own heroics.

“Everyone had a good game,” he says.

“The big thing was that we won. It was a big game and a lot of the boys had a good game as well. Josh had his 100^th game, which was massive for the boys. Isaiya’s been killing in (in the halves), same with Kodi … you could sort of go through everyone.

“Everyone had a good game. That was the main thing.”

What does he enjoy most, if tries don’t excite him?

“Just winning. I’m not too fussed about individual stuff. It doesn’t bother me just as long as we win,” Stone says.

So, do Jamayne Isaako and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow have anything to worry about in terms of the leading points scorer race?

“No, I don’t think so. That will be me done for a couple of years I think,” Stone says.

The Dolphins have beaten last year’s grand finalists during the past two weeks and now have three wins in a row, after a slow start to the 2025 season.

“I don’t know if too much has changed (in the past three weeks). I think it’s coming together a lot more. The combinations are starting to click,” Stone explains.

“In terms of our training and attitude and stuff … it feels like it’s been the same … we’ve pushed pretty hard all preseason and even those first couple of weeks we were pushing hard but we didn’t quite get the result.

“Now, it’s just sort of clicked and combinations are working a lot better.”

The 27-year-old is now focused on round eight and going up against third-placed Canberra Raiders, who have won five of their first seven games this season.

“It’s been good (but) those two weeks (Panthers and Storm) are done now so we’ve got to move on to this week. Canberra, they’ve been going well so we know we’ve got to step it up again,” Stone says.

“They’re a big pack and they’re a pretty powerful pack, so our pack needs to make sure we step up and have a go.

“We’ve just got to do what we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks and just try to take it to another level again with the intensity and physicality of it.”

After a knee injury in last week's upset victory over the Storm, Dolphins Vice Captain Felise Kaufusi will miss this week's game.

He will join teammate Jeremy Marshall-King on the sidelines, who remains unavailable due to a cut on his thigh.

Max Plath has been named in the team, giving him every opportunity to recover from a foot injury suffered during the Storm game.

Mid-season recruit Frank Molo will make his Dolphins debut, starting in the front row.