The full story of the bravery of Dolphins warhorse Ray Stone to play for four months with two busted shoulders has emerged as utility Max Plath chases a stunning early ACL return.
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Plath, who is slated for a round three comeback on the NRL official site, has been training well at hooker after sustaining the knee injury in round 14 last year.
AAP understands Plath has a chance to make round one although that would be the best possible result. The Dolphins won't risk him if he is not ready but he is tracking well.
Stone, a former rake at Parramatta, said he was not a contender to replace the injured Jeremy Marshall-King at No.9 but versatile duo Plath and Kurt Donoghoe were training well.
"Plathy has been doing that and Kurt as well. I can't see myself going back to nine ... hopefully," he grinned.
Stone is in a hotly contested race to make the side as a middle forward after he had AC joint resection surgery on both shoulders during the off-season
He carried the injuries through 11 games after injuring both shoulders in the 44-8 win over Canterbury in round 12.
Stone aggravated one of his AC joints in a previous match but did the full job on both in the Bulldogs clash in the pouring rain.
In clear discomfort, he could hardly drag himself off the sodden field but went on to make three more tackles before a try-saver on Viliame Kikau. The Dolphins then replaced the resilient Stone because he could not lift his arms.
Stone had the two surgeries four weeks apart in the off-season and either side of getting married, since he didn't want to walk down the aisle with both arms in a sling.
The stoic nature of Stone is well known, the sort of player you could hit with an iron bar and he would still keep coming at you with a blank stare.
"The shoulders were both busted so I pretty much just needled them before every game," Stone said.
"If I needed a needle at halftime I would do that to get through.
"Once the needle was in it was pretty much sweet ... until it wore off. It was probably my favourite time of the week, getting needled.
"I barely trained. I just ran and didn't do much contact throughout the week. It was about trying to maintain to get my body to game day.
"I got surgery in the off-season and got them both fixed so I should be sweet now."
With teammates including Tom Gilbert, Tom Flegler and Daniel Saifiti back from long-term injury this year, Stone has a challenge to make the Dolphins side.
But he is one of coach Kristian Woolf's favourite players because of his take no prisoners approach.
"If I miss out, I miss out," Stone said.
"We have got a quality team here and the way everyone has been training I am not going to be offended or upset.
"If I get a chance I will have a crack."
Stone is off-contract this year but wants to stay with the Dolphins, where he has played his best football for three seasons.
"This is home for me. I love it," he said.
"It is definitely where I see myself."
Australian Associated Press
