WHEN they have the World Idiot Olympics, I want to select Joel Monaghan to represent Australia, for his actions with the dog on Mad Monday. I know, this might be a contentious selection, as others struggle forward to press their own claims - see Julian O'Neill, Nate Myles, John Hopoate, Brendan Fevola et al for starters. The point, though, is that for all his idiocy, Monaghan does not deserve to have his career, the way he feeds his family, ended over it. In terms of a victimless crime, this one is a textbook case. The dog was not hurt, at least if you disregard Monaghan apparently not calling it in the morning. No one else was hurt, and there was no violence, malice or physical damage done. There is no chance that because of what he did, impressionable people around the country will be more likely to do it - if you'll forgive - ''doggy style''. No, what Monaghan was most guilty of was getting so staggeringly drunk that everything seemed permissible, nothing seemed out of bounds. In past cases, we have so often seen footballers in this state do terrible damage to property, and appalling things to women, including hitting and sexually assaulting them. How can the NRL say dogmatically to other blokes, you can take your place back with us in the comp, even though you've hit women, but say to another bloke that because of your embarrassingly infantile skylarking - for that is what Monaghan was doing - he is no longer welcome? What, then, is Monaghan's punishment? The headlines of yesterday, the furore of today and the giggling whispers that will follow him all his life. He is, and I mean it, a world-class idiot, but neither a dangerous nor a venal one
