CAMERON Smith got the hint in the middle of the 2017 season that his days playing representative football were coming to an end.

Explaining his shock decision to retire from representative football today, the Queensland champion revealed how much of a toll last year’s Origin series and World Cup had taken on his body and his mind.

Last year’s gruelling come-from-behind win for the Maroons was so exhausting it made him a shell of himself in his home life.

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“I think there probably wasn’t one that stuck out more than another but I go back to what I said earlier about last year and finishing each Origin game and I remember returning home and saying to my wife that I just can’t see myself playing this weekend for the Storm, and those turnarounds were between three and four days and every other year that I played it’s been more than enough time for me to get up for,” Smith said.

“I’ve actually looked forward to backing up for my club. I think that was probably the first sign.

“And then on top of that, when I wasn’t playing for the Storm that weekend I wasn’t really offering much at home as a father and as a husband.

“I was either sitting on the couch or laying in my bed exhausted, both physically and mentally.”

It’s an incredible insight into what it takes to have a long representative career, with Smith’s longevity almost unprecedented having played 42 Origins and 56 Test matches.

Bashing into an average of about 50 tackles per game, most of them against bigger men, is bound to have a cumulative impact as the years go by and while Smith has been an expert in resilience the demands of Origin have finally become too much.

“Not too many people understand the commitment that you need to play Origin,” Smith said.

“You need full physical and mental commitment to go out and play well and do the job for the team and that really took its toll on me last year, so I think that was really the first sign for myself, when I started having those thoughts.”

Weighing those thoughts with the possibility of more extended periods away from his growing family finally brought him to his decision after months of thought.

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“And then I guess as the year went on, the series went by, things were going well at the club and then we got to the World Cup and I don’t know, maybe the length of that season, of being away for three Origin games and then a six week period with the Kangaroos sort of confirmed to me that it was getting more difficult for me to be away from my wife and children,” Smith said.

“My oldest now being 10 years of age, there’s a few important things happening now with my family with school and their junior sports that I’m missing out on.

Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith played key roles in Queensland’s 2017 win. Source: AAP

“That’s a big commitment for myself to make and a big sacrifice but it’s also, I think it’s a greater sacrifice for those guys.

“You get your children asking why I can’t be in attendance for some of their events, it’s not a great feeling.

“So I think it’s a combination of the impact that representative football had on me and my family was a result of my decision.

“But it’s a decision that I did take a long time to come to and in the end the reasons for not playing on, compared to the reasons to playing on were far outweighed by not playing.”

Given Smith got his first inkling that representative retirement was on the cards by midway through last year, it’s probably fair to ask if he had taken too long to come to a definitive decision.

That question was put to Maroons coach Kevin Walters in his press conference and his response said everything you need to know about the regard the Queensland hierarchy has for their champion hooker and leader.

“I totally respect where Cameron was at. From my point-of-view, and I’ve only been coaching Origin for two years, but he’s just such a great sounding board for me around everything that we’ve done as a team,” Walters said.

“I sort of got a bit of an inkling earlier this year around some of the discussions we had about Origin, I just didn’t get the same vibe as I’ve had over the last couple of years about his enthusiasm and drive and such and I didn’t say much to anyone but when he told me recently I thought that doesn’t surprise me.

“The thing about Cameron is he’s certainly not a selfish person so he’s obviously had a lot to consider and we respect that totally.

“What he’s done for Queensland and Australia has been something short of a miracle, his performances through that time has been a benchmark for everyone who puts on that maroon jersey in his tenure there.

“It’s been a great career and I really just want to thank him for what he’s done for Queensland.”

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