Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has revealed how fell out of love with the game that gave him so much.

After Lance Franklin created history last Friday and became the sixth Footballer to kick 1000 goals, Lloyd, who retired 74 goals shy of the magical 1000 mark, gave an interesting take on why football became the "biggest chore".

"I was driving through the Botanical Gardens one night to play Carlton in front of 85,000 people," the spearhead stated on Channel Nine's Footy Classified.

"I saw a guy chasing his kid through the Botanical Gardens, and I thought, 'Jeez, I'd love to be doing that right now' ... I knew it was time for me to go."

After his 2009 retirement, Lloyd was chased hard by Carlton, Collingwood, and Sydney, but was fearful his love of the game wouldn't return and thought it would be a terrible way to end his career.

Lloyd further explained that premiership teammate James Hird, in his first year as coach of Essendon in 2011, gave him a shock offer to come out of retirement in 2011.

"A year after retirement, I got a call from James Hird to come into the footy club about a coaching role.

"I got there, and he and (then assistant coach) Brendan McCartney were there, and Brendan McCartney said, 'Hirdy, man up and ask him what you really want to ask him.'

"He (Hird) said 'would you come back and play?'

"I said, 'no, Hirdy, the day I retired, I was a lot happier than what I was when I was still playing.'"

Hird still believed his former champion forward was capable of kicking 50 goals a season.