Dolphins head coach Kristian Woolf has revealed forward Ray Stone has been playing with two AC joint injuries in recent weeks.
The forward was evidently in pain during Thursday night's win in awful conditions against the Canterbury Bulldogs, and when quizzed post-game, Woolf revealed Stone has continued to turn up for his 'down on troops' team despite having issues in both AC joints.
"He is a tough man as well. He has been playing with two AC's in the last couple of weeks. We are a bit down on troops at the moment, so he just keeps putting his hand up to play. You could see he is pretty sore there, and was pretty sore through the week at training. He is a committed guy and we love having him on the team," Woolf said on Stone during the post-match press conference.
Stone, who has become one of the Dolphins most important players off the bench before starting at hooker, the second-row and at lock over the last five games, is one of the NRL's most fierce competitors, and was again against Canterbury, making 30 tackles and barely putting a foot wrong despite playing through the pain barrier.
It was an excellent performance from the Dolphins against an undermanned Bulldogs outfit, with four tries in the final 17 minutes kicking the scoreboard towards the 50-point barrier.
The Dolphins, who have now won five from 12, are among the last teams in the competition to have their first bye, and do just that next weekend, with Woolf describing the win as a four-point win.
"It's an important one for us for a whole lot of reasons. We have had a challenging first 12 weeks and had some games in there that we felt like we could have won, and haven't quite got it done. Tonight we were good enough, and going into a bye as well, it's a four-point sort of win for us. There is no better feeling than getting a win on a Thursday night and knowing we have a good break coming up," Woolf said.
The coach confirmed his team will have six days off before returning to training.
"It's a good break. We have played 12 games straight, it has been a tough 12 weeks with plenty of challenges and ups and downs. We have some busted bodies. Obviously, when you have a number of key guys out, other people need to put their hands up and work a bit harder. They are very deserved of a break, and they are going to get a good break. They get a six-day break, then we have four games after that, so a good little period to go and attack," he said.
The Dolphins had 55 per cent of the ball against Canterbury and completed at 80 per cent against the Bulldogs - a phenomenal result given the weather - but Woolf said he was more impressed with the way his side defended, particularly during the second half.
"Yeah, really happy. It was a quality game of footy in the conditions. I liked our intent right from the start, you could see we were ready to play, and we carried through with that for the whole game, so a little bit of a reward at the end where they got to enjoy themselves, but very happy overall," Woolf said.
"At the end there, I suppose a bit of pressure is off when you know the game is won, so we could throw the ball around and enjoy it. We had our periods where we were well on top, and we stuck to our game plan, but when they had their opportunities, I thought we defended terrifically.
"We gave them a bit of opportunity in the second half, and you could see they got a bit of energy. They have been coming home over the top of teams, and doing that, I thought we defended really well in those periods."
