Kinnear was a member of the Essendon team that won the premiership in the 1901 Grand Final match, against Collingwood, on 7 September 1901.

He was Essendon's vice-captain in 1901 and 1902, was acting-captain on eleven occasions in those two years,[9] and retired as a footballer after the match against Collingwood, at Victoria park, on 8 June 1903.

Towards the end of his career, and playing as a follower, Kinnear became the first Essendon player to reach 100 VFL games — that is, in addition to his 35 games for the Essendon team in the (pre-VFL) VFA competition in the 1895 and 1896 seasons — a milestone he reached when playing against Fitzroy in the 1902 Preliminary Final on 13 September 1902.

He had a highly successful commercial career over many years as the chairman of the major Australian rope-makers, George Kinnear & Sons Pty Ltd, until he retired at the age of 89.

[10] He died at his Essendon residence on 3 March 1965;[11] and, with his old team-mate Joe Groves having died four years earlier (on 3 July 1961), at the time of his death Kinnear was the last surviving player of Essendon's 1897 premiership team.