They might not be as high-profile as club president David Smorgon or captain Brad Johnson, but they play a critical role in the AFL club considered Footscray's own.

As the Dogs' property stewards, the pair are responsible for ensuring every player has the right gear for games and training days.

While the red, white and blue have had special meaning for many since the former Footscray Football Club began in 1877, they mean the world to the blokes who wash up to 300 articles with those colours each week.

It's difficult to separate the pair. Both were born on October 15 - Walsh is 86 and Kinniburgh 68. Both grew up a drop punt from the Whitten Oval and started at the club as under-19 players - Walsh in 1940 and Kinniburgh in 1959.

The only thing they appear to differ on is naming their favourite players.

"I never had favourites," Walsh, of West Footscray, says. "We were always told to treat everybody the same, whether they were Jack [Collins] or Jim [Edmond]."

Kinniburgh, on the other hand, can't go past Johnson, who he first saw play as a junior. Daniel Giansiracusa, Chris Grant, Rohan Smith and Scott West are also favourites of the Manor Lakes resident.

During the Mail interview, players, coach Rodney Eade and various administration staff pop in to see the pair, who are considered the 'go-to' guys.

As well as washing and drying hundreds of clothing items, they are responsible for organising autographed items of clothing, refilling drink machines and loading and unloading gear.

It's a stressful job, particularly on the occasions when massage tables have ended up in Perth instead of Adelaide and drink bottles in Singapore instead of Darwin.

Certainly, the pair have seen a world of change both outside and within the club, the reputation of which has been transformed from that of a battler to an innovator.

When Forges was gutted by fire in 1945, Kinniburgh saw the smoke from his house and wandered down to have a look.

He remembers all the picture theatres in the suburb and his days selling newspapers on Nicholson and Napier streets for twopence.

Walsh knows that the days of 38,000 football fans crammed into Whitten Oval to watch a game are over. "It was a different world," he says.