And with a raft of Maroons journeymen tipped to call it a day after the decider, Smith’s hunger to play on is imperative to his young squad’s development.

Johnathan Thurston’s Origin career is over with Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk’s rep future’s undecided.

Injured front row enforcer Matt Scott may well never play Origin again with Greg Inglis also tipped to weigh up his future after being ruled out for the season with injury.

"I am still enjoying State of Origin," he said.

"It's been a bit of a shock to the system the last couple of years with Corey Parker finishing up last year, now Johnathan Thurston but the time had to come, you can't go on forever.”

And Smith, who has missed just one Origin match since debuting in 2003, knows how vital he is to continuing Queensland’s dominance.

"Unfortunately there are a lot of guys who have been part of this team for a long time that are going to finish their Origin careers,” he said.

"Personally I still feel really good mentally and physically and still enjoy coming into camp and competing at this level.

"When that desire or hunger is gone I will know it is time to put my hand up and say 'give another bloke a go'."

And despite being plagued by a sternum injury for the entire series, Smith said he was feeling good ahead of what is being dubbed the biggest Origin match in history.

"It's the most talked-about sternum in the competition," he laughed.

"I had a few days off and all of a sudden I'm under an injury cloud.

"I actually had the sternum injury before game one. It took a couple of weeks to settle down but it's all good now."