Ho-hum, just another week in the NRL

JVGO Sorry for the late reply. I think that if you read my post i don't actually say banned. Banning human behaviour is impossibe. What i did say was that these morons should be discouraged, this culture is dated and pathetic. Human males (women don't feel the need to do this) have to out do one another...fact (anyone who has study sociology will tell you that), mix that with money, alcohol, poor social skills, few brain cells and bravado and this is what you get. If you think that professionalism is a myth tell that to the sponsors that jump ship evrytime something else like this occurs, tell that to the blokes that pay the wages of these so called elite athletes! People like you, the media (they have financial reasons not to slag league off too much) perpetuate this behaviour by thinknig "oh it's just some lads letting off some steam." And no i don't think all league players are drug cheating, gun toting, match fixing etc but a few damage the repuation for everyone.

Australian football players & fans (Rugby, League & AFL) just don't get it. A professional sportsman on a big salary shouldn't be getting wasted. Period. Foreign Soccer managers are always amazed when they go to England and see the drinking culture over there. If you read Terry Venables book about his coaching experiences in other countries you'll see that this 'drinking culture' is a predominately Anglo Saxon thing. That's probably why there are so few English players in the EPL these days. Foreign footballers treat their profession seriously, look after their bodies and don't abuse alcohol. Ask any Olympic athlete if they get wasted? Ask any sports scientist what alcohol abuse does to physical conditioning. If you want to have fun then play amateur sports. Otherwise be PROFESSIONAL.

i think monaghan is not the only whoof whoof that needs help.

Clipper, I'm not really a dog person. I can't even stand how they lick at your face, but if someone wants to let a dog lick them on the lips I'm not going to call them names. If someone wants to go a little further, as long as the dog's ok, similarly I don't care. I learnt long ago in a lot of hairy situations not to impose my standards on other people unless you're prepared for them to do the same to you.

But it wasn't a simulation! A lot of people I know have wheeled out that excuse and I've told them to look at The Roar with the photo link and tell me what they think. Not one of them has then said 'I still think it's a simulation' and they have all changed their tone.

Well as I have made clear, given the context that the act was a simulation, and it was not intended to be published on the internet, and it was performed in the privacy of someone's home and noone seems to have been offended, I'm not really disgusted by it at all. I haven't actually looked at the photo as I don't think it is any of my business. Look Clipper people have different standards but I find it extremely worrying that you for instance feel this act justifies JM being exposed and punished over a social network. I prefer that societies judgments and punishments are carried out by the judicial system and if this act doesn't qualify for any judicial censure then it is best simply to let it be. It is in fact of no consequence to the rest of society at all.

No matter what other codes or players did in the past, does that make the Monaghan incident any less disgusting - two wrongs don't make a right. If some player was caught in some vile act that I had followed (the player, not the vile act), I would not be leaping to his or her defence.

SA No one is shifting any blame.If you bother to read another thread,where i was no 3 to respond,my words exactly:Sack him. What I do find sad,are some of the trolls,whose sole purpose is not to offer constructive criticism for an act of idiocy,but to stir with the intent of assuming their codes is shiny white.Hence my considered.response Daves response and his previous contributions are exactly what I am getting at.QED. Dave I suggest you also check my response in sacking the guy.Just open your eyes on the odd occasion,before going into print.It may assist your cause.

wow. look at the whoof whoof fans keep shooting themselves in the foot. is anyone else buying this? now we have one of the whoof whoof getting an article from 2009, yes 2009. and claim he hasn't heard anything about it. well, do we really expect people in samoa to hear a rugby league player england has been charged for selling fake inks or kiwis to know that some swimmer in australia lost his place in the olympic team because he assaulted a former teammate??NO. any All Black incidents is big news in new zealand because they are seen as gods in the rugby mad country. jvgo, i wouldn't expect you to know about the all blacks from your home in suburban sydney or brisbane. its not like one of them did anything disgusting with a dog and been posted all over the world. if that was to happen the all black would have been in alot more damage than joel monaghan and rugby league because all blacks is more popular and a respected team on this planet than joel monaghan and rugby league put together. you really are a funny guy going all ape on some all blacks incidents in five years when some other football incidents which i won't mention had the whole squads including trainers and coaches participate in it. keep digging yourself a big whole and don't worry the rugby world cup will go along fine. its not like they are going to boo any national anthems or run riots through out the streets around eden park or anything.

Dave, here we have the pride of RU in action. According to this article there have been at least 11 All Blacks arraigned before the courts in the last 5 years. Wow, what a strike rate. Funny I haven't heard about any of this mayhem. That's nearly the whole team. Hopefully by the time of the WC next year the other 4 can get busted just to complete the picture. And if they win the WC the mad monday celebrations in NZ should really be something. I wonder if amidst all the fun one of the 4 million NZers might manage to do something outrageously stupid. Surely not. http://wwos.ninemsn.com/article.aspx?id=717175

Dave just tell us exactly what lesson we should learn from this incident. And tell us whoof whoofs why the actions of other footballers aren't relevant to our judgement of this issue?

Well both codes do it apparently so draw whatever conclusions you want SA. But if you don't really blame anyone how can you shift the blame, it's merely putting the situation in perspective. This incident will be forgotten by next week anyway and Joel will probably return unheralded for a season or two in a couple of years. It's really the surrounding societal attitudes and prejudices that emerge from the incident that are interesting and that we might learn something from. I've certainly learnt a bit about Australian society in the last week or so and I don't find it pretty honestly. The all round willingness to engage in a witch hunt and a lynching is pretty disturbing.

i think crosscoder and the whoof whoof lot hasn't really learn anything from this last episode. instead of talking about monaghan he's too busy mention other players from other football codes. i forgot that's the whoof whoof way of doing things.

Yea but being pleasured buy a dog is not so bad, rl players alone have created the most outrages headlines compared to any other code. i love the fact that you try and shift the blame or highlight other inncidents crosscoder.

I agree Dave but in a way it is remarkable that the Monaghan photo was made public at all. It was so distasteful that it was almost unreportable.

JVGO - actually Fitz was one of the few commentators to not stick the boot in last weekend, check out his column. If you are complaining about Rugby journos giving it to League and how narrow minded, insular e.t.c they are?? Well that is BS. Just as much Rugby bashing comes from League commentators. Who really cares. They are just doing their job to generate support for their codes and we all know it sells papers, websites hits e.t.c

JVGO Unfortunately rl players have not learnt the gentle art of quokka tossing. Then Dave,the gent in question should seek a retraction from the union author to the story .It is not hard.

Those saying they should ban mad monday is a bit unrealistic. I dont think you can ban a group of 20-something men from gathering at someones house, drinking beer/etc maybe going out and being social... maybe in communist china, not in the nrl.

Well there are a couple of very prominent Rugby journalists, Spiro and Fitzimmon's, who spend a lot of time pointing out RL's failings, and there are a whole bunch of posters on this rugby oriented site who like to spend a lot of time railing against RL also. On the evidence of these few rugby culture would appear to me to be extremely self satisfied insular and narrow minded. But I'm willing to change my mind if the evidence presents itself.

The big bad world is out to get the niche sport of rugby league. everything is a conspiracy against league and its all rugby's fault.