WHEN the Western Bulldogs' season ended on September 3, it wasn't just Ben Hudson and Barry Hall that said goodbye.

There was a fourth person, alongside mature-aged rookie Mitch Hahn, who didn't play in the Dogs' 46-point win over Fremantle who was ending his time with the club.

Noel Kinniburgh, the almost 71-year-old property steward who held the role for the last 12 years, had worked at his last game after nearly 30 years of affiliation with the club.

It's hard to work out exactly how many games Kinniburgh has been involved in when you count home-and-away matches, pre-season games and intra-club hit-outs.

It is equally as challenging to measure just how much he has given to the club since he first started working with the club's little league in 1983.

"I was the coordinator for all the little league games for the Bulldogs, and I used to organise the teams and the fixture at the start of the year with all the clubs," Kinniburgh said of his first unpaid role.

"We used to do that at the junior football council, which now comes under the TAC Cup, and we'd do the fixture for all the teams around the state, who was representing Footscray at that time, and run it on match days."

Kinniburgh's most recent role at the club, a paid position in the property room, encompassed many aspects. His days started well before the players arrived, and ended long after they'd departed after training and weights.

His match day role involved ensuring all the gear required was taken from the club's ground to the venue and back again, and making sure players and coaches had exactly what they needed, when they needed it.

For interstate games, he was in charge of driving the property van to the airport after loading it up at Whitten Oval, and ensuring all the gear not only got on the plane but was collected at the other end.

Every piece of equipment, down to the last leftover sports drink or spare pair of shorts, has to be itemised, and, if interstate, taped up so the bags, eskies and massage tables don't fall open on the plane.

Kinniburgh remembers when, in 2007 on a trip to Adelaide, all the property went to Perth instead.

And then, in 2008, it came back from Darwin on two planes, which meant he had to return to Melbourne Airport five hours after landing and collect the rest of it.

Still, it's the match days he says he'll miss the most, and "going away with the boys" when he finishes up on October 31.

With those boys away now, Kinniburgh and the other staff still have plenty to look after at Whitten Oval, with the huge task of accounting for all stock a prime off-season job.

"At the moment, we're putting up sponsor signs around the club looking over the oval, and we're cleaning up inside and doing stocktake as well," he said.

"The club sold plaques for seats and we're going to start attaching them soon.

"There's still plenty to keep you busy when the season's over."

Kinniburgh remembers things such as Daniel Cross coming to the club as a freshly-faced 17-year-old in his St Bernard's uniform, where he'd train after school finished for the day.

He credits himself for "teaching Brad Johnson how to kick", after taking the former captain in a drill at an Auskick clinic when he was just eight years old.

His good relationship with Johnson later made headlines in early 2010 when he accidentally drove the drinks cart into the captain at training; something he was devastated about at the time as it was suggested it could have flared a pre-existing injury.

Later, the club saw the funny side and fixed 'L' plates to the drinks cart, and Johnson forgave him with the impact not affecting his recovery from a persistent Achilles complaint.

Kinniburgh was just 13 when the Dogs won their only premiership in 1954, and grew up a stone throw away from Whitten Oval.

He's seen players such as Johnson, Scott Wynd, Chris Grant, Doug Hawkins and Ted Whitten come and go, and most recently, the appointment of Matthew Boyd as skipper in the years following the opening of the club's flash new Elite Learning Centre.

Boyd said contributors such as Kinniburgh - and 88-year-old Eddie Walsh, who was honoured by the club last month for 71 years of service by naming the property room after him - were integral to the running of such associations.

"Noel has been an invaluable contributor the club and it's guys like these who just make sure everything we need is ready to go and there when we need it," Boyd said.

"We couldn't do what we do without the support of people like Noel."

Kinniburgh admitted he had second thoughts about retiring, especially when his wife Pat asked if recently if he would miss his job.

After briefly considering reneging on the resignation he handed in mid-season, he again decided he was done with waking up at 5am, six days a week, to make sure he was at the club well before the first player.

"I think I'll miss it but at the same time, it will be nice to have a sleep in," he said.

Travel is on the cards for the Kinniburghs in the next few years, and Noel is looking forward to paying more attention to his beloved V8 racing cars.

He'll also continue to work part-time in maintaining the grounds of Mossfield Primary School, where Pat works in the library.

Kinniburgh was made a life member of the Bulldogs in 2009, and said the club would "always remain part of him.

He also anticipates watching the Bulldogs "get back to where they're meant to be" in 2012 from the grandstands rather than from the sweaty change rooms.

Jennifer Witham covers Western Bulldogs news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.