Veteran Bomber and former Geelong triple premiership star, James Kelly, will retire at the end of the 2017 season.
Kelly, 33, has played 37 games with Essendon after playing after 273 games Geelong, including the 2007, 2009 and 2011 premierships.
He joined the Bombers as a top up player in 2016, playing 20 games and has played 17 so far this season.
He won a place in the All-Australian team in 2011 and finished runner-up in Essendon's best and fairest last season.
Kelly said his move to Essendon gave him a renewed passion for the game after 13 years at Geelong.
โI finished my career at Geelong with a lot of success and I was pretty worn out and tired and I came here and the Essendon footy club sort of reignited my passion for the game and that was directly related to Woosha and the guys around me,"ย he said on Wednesday morning.
โThis club has certainly put me in a much better place finishing my career now and I feel really, really grateful for that.
โI feel really fortunate that Iโve been able to come this far in my career and play for two really great clubs,โ Kelly said.
โ(I) had a lot of success at one and Iโm eternally grateful for that, that Iโve been able to experience the highs and lows of footy."
Kelly said he is hoping to move into coaching next season.
โI will coach, hopefully I can get a job somewhere,โ he said.
โI feel like thatโs something I really want to do and need to do and I feel like I can add some value.โ
