GONE are the days of a farewell retirement speech, or at least according to Corey Maynard.

The 27-year-old made the difficult decision to hang up his boots last Friday and decided an email would be sufficient for his announcement.

“I had a bit of a think to myself … and thought I probably hadn’t had the 200-game, 10-year career that warranted me to stand up in front of everyone and watch a massive highlights package,” Maynard told Melbourne Media.

“I did want to take the opportunity to thank everybody for the time they’ve invested in me and all the relationships I’ve made while I’ve been here.

“So I thought an email was the appropriate course of action and it got some pretty good responses.”

The email, with a subject line, ‘That’s all she wrote’, was sent around to the entire football department, and signed off in a unique way.

The first of a three-line bio read:

‘2 games, 1 goal, 0 hips’

After a shocking run with injury, the inside midfielder was left with two busted hips at the end of his two-game career.

“That’s obviously the reason for my retirement,” Maynard said.

“That’s probably the most bitter pill to swallow with it all.

“I’m at peace with it now but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a lot of tough times over the last 18 months since Round 1 last year when I first started having problems.”

Maynard has been hindered by this hip soreness over the past two seasons which ultimately forced him to sacrifice his sporting ambitions.

“I haven’t really been able to have a clean run at it at all really – I’ve been in and out of rehab,” he said.

“After talking to the docs and surgeon I just felt it was the best for long-term and unfortunately I’m probably not even going to be able to play sport after this given the state that they’re in.”

The second line of his bio highlighted his time in basketball:

‘Former Cairns Taipan’

Prior to being recruited by the Dees as a Category-B rookie, Maynard made a name for himself with the round ball.

“Basketball was obviously amazing for me,” he said.

“It was my passion growing up, with footy.

“I poured all my time and effort into it from when I was about 16 or 17 and decided that was the career path that I wanted to take.”

Growing up, Maynard played at state level for South Australia, before heading to America on a four-year scholarship at Bryant University.

“I maintain those were the best four years of my life to this date,” he said.

“I lived over there on campus and we had some great success – some of my best friends are still over there in the States.”

At the end of his deal, Maynard returned to Australia, playing for the Cairns Taipans and the Townsville Crocodiles in the NBL, as well as representing his country at the under 23 level.

And finally, a personal record:

‘All-time leader in AFL tackles per game (no minimum games req.)’

After making the switch to football in 2016, Maynard has accomplished his dream of playing at the top level and averaged seven tackles per-game throughout his career.

“A bit arrogant of me, but a few of the boys always joke about it and Max Rooke sent me through a few screenshots a couple of times,” he said.

“Last year [I was] the season’s tackle average leader after a massive one game.

“I thought I’d let them know I was pretty handy – a couple of tackles there in the two games.”

Although Maynard’s professional career started in a different sport, his passion for football never disappeared.

“Footy was my first true love – it was in my family,” he said.

“It was something I played growing up all the way from Auskick to under 16s.”

And despite struggling to play consistently throughout this time at the club, he is content with his time in the red and blue.

“I’ll probably always think and wonder about what could have been if I was fully healthy, and that’s going to be a process of acceptance for me – that’s just what my journey was,” Maynard said.

“Ultimately I’m really happy with how it all panned out.

“I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it.

“There’s a certain level of vulnerability that you have to have, going onto a list where you know that you’re probably going to be the worst player there, and going to have some days where you’re not really up to standard.

“The playing group, the coaching staff, all the support staff – I said this in my email too – were nothing but great in their genuine care and time and effort they poured into me.

“That made my time here so enjoyable – I’ve loved all of it.”