Marsh wore the Baggy Green in 96 Tests - at the time an Aussie record - and would have done so in many more, if not for the years he missed because of World Series Cricket.

Along the way, he kept wicket while the likes of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee were unleashing their thunderbolts, and never once did he allow a broken finger or badly bruised hand to force him to miss a Test.

Instead he gritted his teeth and braved the pain barrier, so desperate was he to prevent any rival gloveman from taking his spot in the team.

Right up until the day he retired, he never gave a sucker an even break.

For some reason, Marsh's credo sprung to mind this week when I read that Knights skipper Kalyn Ponga had effectively removed himself from the discussion as Queensland ponder their fullback options for Origin III after Reece Walsh's suspension.

Ponga, of course, was overlooked for the series opener, despite being man of the match for the Maroons in last year's third and deciding game.

His omission was semi-surprising, given that the Cane Toads pride themselves on a pick-and-stick mentality, but also smacked of common sense.

Ponga missed the back end of last season, and then six games this year, after much-publicised concussion issues, and he was also struggling to make the transition to five-eighth, an experiment that was ultimately abandoned.

Walsh, meanwhile, was killing it for his new club Brisbane, and in the end Maroons coach Billy Slater opted for current form over reputation and loyalty.

After Walsh then starred in Origin I, Ponga revealed he had spoken to Slater and told him: "I need to focus on Newcastle at the moment ... it was a really difficult decision to make, but I will fight to win back my place in the Queensland side next year."

At the time, it seemed a bit like saying: "I'll catch a taxi to work because the bus didn't wait for me", but there was also a certain logic in Ponga wanting to get some club games under his belt.

But if Ponga was backing himself in to regain the Queensland No.1 jersey next year, others weren't so sure.

As Phil Gould said at the time: "Reece Walsh is now the Queensland fullback for the next decade."

Walsh added weight to Gould's theory with another dazzling display in Queensland's game-two triumph, only to find himself banned for the series finale after his dim-witted abuse of referee Chris Buttler during Brisbane's loss to Gold Coast last weekend.

Suddenly the Maroons need a new fullback and Ponga, having strung together seven consecutive games in Newcastle's starting line-up, appeared a more than capable replacement.

But instead the 25-year-old told News Corp: "I've spoken to Billy. I'm going to stay with the decision I made."

Only Ponga and Slater will know how that conversation unfolded, but the upshot is that it now seems as if Gold Coast dynamo AJ Brimson will play fullback for Queensland on July 12, unless they switch Dolphins flyer Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and bring in another centre.

All of which raises the question of when and how Ponga - a proven performer at Origin level - can get back into that arena.

Initially, I thought it made sense for him to focus on regaining form and fitness at club level, but he's done that now, and apparently allayed any immediate concerns about his neurological health in the process.

To my untrained eye, there would appear no reason why he shouldn't be available for Origin III.

It's his decision, but I find it strange that he has seemingly chosen to rule himself out.

In comparison, I can't help reflecting on Newcastle's greatest-ever player, Andrew Johns, who, after returning from a bulging disc in his neck and then a knee reconstruction, was at his lowest ebb when he suffered a broken jaw early in the 2005 season.

After another seven weeks on the sidelines, he played one game for Newcastle - a 34-16 loss to Brisbane - then was rushed into a NSW team who were already one-nil down in the series.

He proceeded to produce two of the finest performances of his career to inspire the Blues to victory and remind us all that form is temporary, class is permanent.

Ponga could potentially have done something similar in Origin III. But for whatever reason, he has opted out, and unfortunately the timing could hardly have been worse, after the Sunday Telegraph revealed in its "Top 100 Rich List" last week that he is the highest-paid player in rugby league history, on a mind-boggling $1.4 million a season.

Great players aren't measured by the amount of money clubs might be silly enough to pay them, nor by how many tries they might score or set up against Canterbury or Wests Tigers.

They're judged on how they perform in big games, in particular grand finals and Origins.

Ponga is yet to help the Knights win a single play-off in his six seasons with the club, and now he's declared himself (temporarily) unavailable for Origin.

Whether he returns to the Maroons next season remains to be seen. The two rivals who have leapfrogged him are no suckers, and they're unlikely to give him an even break.

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