Adam Simpson's decision to retire this weekend, a month before the season officially ends for North Melbourne, sums up how unobtrusively he has gone about a career that stretches back 15 years.
But the 33-year-old, who is the last surviving member of the club's third premiership team from 1996 and will leave current captain Brent Harvey as the only remaining member of the 1999 flag-winning side, will go down as one of the club's greats.
Simpson debuted with four kicks and five handballs in Round 18 of the 1995 season against West Coast at Princes Park but was dropped after managing just one kick and one handpass a week later against Richmond.
But that was to be the only time in his career that form cost him his place in the team, Simpson playing every game the following year as the Kangaroos ended a 19-year drought by beating the Swans to claim their third flag.
He may not have been a key contributor along the way to that triumph but there was no doubting how important he'd become to the side three years later as he and his team-mates delivered the club's fourth premiership.
And while further team success has eluded North in the decade since - apart from finals appearances in 2002, '05, '07 and '08 that included just one win from six attempts - Simpson has well and truly stamped himself on the Roos' history during the period.
In a time when North well and truly punched above its weight in terms of getting to those finals series despite having facilities among the worst in the league and a playing list that was rated at about the same level, Simpson stood tall.
Anthony Stevens took over as leader for the two seasons that followed Wayne Carey's departure in disgrace on the eve of the 2002 campaign but by then was nearing the end of his career and wisely handed over the reins to Simpson in his final year in 2004.
Having also lost two-time premiership coach Denis Pagan to Carlton at the end of 2002 largely because of the club's parlous financial state, Simpson's early years in the job coincided with one of the darkest periods off the field because of that lack of money.
But regardless of what was going on behind the scenes, he continued to lead from the front and current president James Brayshaw was quick to lavish praise on him when he announced his intentions on Monday morning.
"You're talking about a person of the utmost integrity, a player of enormous courage and underrated skill, and an incredible leader," Brayshaw said. "He's one of the greats to have played for our club (and) it's been a privilege to have him."
"The thing that I think with Adam often gets overlooked is that in some pretty tough times for this footy club he stood up and provided our playing group and our supporters … with some incredible leadership."
"That will never be undervalued from our footy club's point of view."
The 'Boris the chicken' affair hurt him both in a public and private sense earlier this year when he admitted to being one of the makers of a video that was widely criticised as being derogatory to women, but Simpson won't be remembered for that.
He was never the most fashionable of players or leaders but his average of 20.7 possessions a game in 305 appearances in the blue and white shows that finding the ball was one of his strengths.
They may not have been pretty but his trademark helicopter kicks, which Pagan recently described at a dinner honouring Simpson's contribution to the club as 'the karate kick' and former team-mate Shannon Grant labelled 'Simmo Specials', were effective particularly in the era when the game plan was to bomb it long to Carey at every opportunity.
Simpson will also be remembered as one of the pioneers of the tactic that sees a third man run in and jump over the top of the competing ruckmen at ball-ups and boundary throw-ins to knock the ball forward into space for a team-mate to run on to it.
And as Brayshaw said when asked about who will decide on which player will next year don the No.7 that Simpson has worn with distinction in his past 240 games since switching from No.37 for 1999, the player who inherits it will be 'lucky' but also have 'some big shoes to fill'.