Essendon defender James Kelly says he’s looking forward to watching the progress of young prospects Kobe Mutch and Jordan Ridley in the coming seasons.

Kelly, a veteran of 310 AFL games and three premierships, announced his decision to retire at the end of the season earlier this week.

Mutch and Ridley are yet to make their AFL debuts but have impressed many, including Kelly, with their performances at VFL level.

“I really like Kobe Mutch, I think he’s going to be a really good player,” Kelly told Bomber Radio.

“He covers the ground well, he makes good decisions by hand and foot.

“He’s just a good, honest kid who is brave in the air and strong over the ball.

“He and Jordan Ridley are going to be really good players.

“A couple of the other guys will take a little bit longer to develop but there is certainly a lot of talent at the footy club and those two guys, once a few older guys have moved on, they’ll have an instant impact in the side and I’m looking forward to watching.”

Mutch has played 15 games in the VFL this season and has averaged 21 disposals per match.

Ridley had a delayed start to the year because of a back problem but he’s wasted little time finding his feet in the VFL.

In his eight games, he’s averaging 16 disposals and seven marks.

The pair was selected in last November’s National Draft alongside Andrew McGrath, Josh Begley and Dylan Clarke.

McGrath has been a mainstay in the senior side and Kelly said the number one draft pick has some rare qualities.

“He does a lot of the work himself, I just guide him where I can but he is a pleasure to work with,” he said.

“He’s a really intelligent kid, he’s a really measured kid.

“He’s someone who you give a little piece of advice and you can tell he’s taking it on board and he actually changes his behaviour off the back of that.

“His ability to absorb information and then turn it into performance and change things instantaneously is something I’ve never seen in a young player especially so early in his career.

“You look at him and he’s got these amazing physical attributes but that’s nothing if you don’t have a good mind.

“The Club is certainly on to a winner with him.”

Kelly said the Bombers have the nucleus of a squad that can push for premiership success in the coming seasons.

“We can achieve whatever we want this year, it’s up to us,” he said.

“Beyond 2017, anything is possible – the hard part about footy is getting everyone on the same page and getting everyone to do what you want them to do consistently.

“That’s where we’re at at the moment – we’ve had some great games this year and we’ve had some poor games.

“If we can get some experience in the finals this year and create a bit of a benchmark of where we want to be, the sky is the limit.

“This group is capable of anything.

“We’ve got really good tall players, we’ve got experienced midfielders and young midfielders, we’ve got really talented half backs and really talented small half forwards.

“There is enough there to win a premiership and that’s what everyone should be thinking about.

“We’re not here to make up the numbers.”