Seems to me the preferred option for Stone is to play the ball out (and he is very good at it). His options are to kick it long if there are no obvious advantages to playing out to feet or he needs to push the opposition back or to just throw something into the mix. As for the 1in4 not finding a player, isn't the player involved in there as well? Looking down the line on Friday, Stone was pumping the ball to where Didzy was (or where he was expected to be) and found him nearly every time.
That long ball offers unpredictability and must be a LW approved option.