Robert Henry Stone (27 February 1956[1] - 1 August 2005) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and official.
He made his debut in first grade in 1975 NSWRFL season and played in the losing grand final to Eastern Suburbs in that year.
He played Second-row in the grand final which was drawn 9-all with Parramatta - the first draw in the history of Sydney rugby league.
He was extremely disappointed at the decision by the St. George board to not offer him a new contract as he had reached 281 games for the club, making him third in the list of longest serving Dragons players behind Billy Smith and Norm Provan.
[3] Stone was so upset at the failure to renew his contract and the move to the SCG that he stood against St. George President Danny Robinson, losing by one vote.
The area where former great players of the Dragons congregate to watch the match is known as "Stoney's slab" as recognition of his role in redeveloping the ground.
Robert Stone was also involved in the decision by the Australian Labor Party to select Mark Latham as its new leader in 2003.
His funeral was held at St. John Bosco Church in Engadine, New South Wales, and reports described the funeral as being widely attended by many notable Rugby League identities including most of his teammates from the 1977 and 1979 grand final winning teams, the current 2005 St. George Illawarra full first grade team including coach Nathan Brown, Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper, Mark Gasnier, Dean Young, his ex coach Harry Bath, Ian Walsh, Steve Rogers, Johnny Raper, Billy Smith, Roy Masters, Craig Young, Ted Goodwin, Steve Edge, Steve Morris, Rod Reddy, Graeme Wynn, Mark Shulman, Ricky Walford, George Grant, Harry Eden, the entire St. George-Illawarra Club committee, other former opposition players including Tom Raudonikis, Laurie Daley, Graham Eadie, Steve Mortimer, John Peard, ex referees Mick Stone, Greg McCallum and Graham Annesley, NRL executives including CEO David Gallop, and many many more.