North Melbourne's Corey Jones, the tradesman and part-time AFL player, is retiring after having one last crack in Sunday's clash with Melbourne.

The 29-year-old forward has managed only one senior game in the first 21 rounds for the ninth-placed Kangaroos.

He has kept himself busy working as a carpenter on Mondays and Tuesdays, and slotting through 48 goals on weekends for VFL side North Ballarat.

Flanked by the bulk of North Melbourne's playing group at a press conference at Arden Street, Jones said it had been a tough year but he was making the best of things with North Ballarat.

"We've finished second (at North Ballarat) and we're going for our third flag so it's pretty exciting times and I'll continue to play down there," Jones said on Thursday, adding he hoped to play country football in 2011.

A product of the Victorian town of Wycheproof, Jones said the highlight of his 156-game career had been the 2007 season, when he kicked 46 goals and the Kangaroos reached the preliminary final.

"The success we had in that season ... we gave it a real shake," he said.

"I managed to get a kick or two, unlike in the last couple of years. That was probably my best season."

Jones thanked his partner Jess and his dog Russ who "annoys all the boys down here".

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said Jones, who has battled inconsistency and injury in recent years, had played a key role in building "the revered Kangaroos' playing culture".

Scott said he was not one for sentiment in football, insisting Jones only came back into the side this week because he was in good form and Lachie Hansen was out with a hamstring injury.

"This is not a farewell game. It just happens to be Corey's last game," Scott said.

"We're not in the business of putting the individual ahead of the team and we're certainly not doing that in this case."

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