Wayne Carey, one of the most successful products of country-league football, says there is an 'abundance' of older recruits like Geelong's James Podsiadly out there in bush and suburban leagues who could easily - with the right training and guidance - make the transition to AFL level.

Geelong raised many eyebrows last year when it drafted Podsiadly as a 28-year-old from Werribee via Yarraville. But he has shown poise, skill and footy smarts in his two senior appearances so far and slotted five goals on Sunday in the Cats' huge win over Port Adelaide.

Carey said when the national draft gets plundered in coming seasons by the Gold Coast and Great Western Sydney franchises, other AFL clubs would definitely start to scour the bigger country and metropolitan leagues to find their own Podsiadlys.

''There are plenty of guys like that out there, plenty,'' Carey told backpagelead.com.au. ''I honestly believe that.

''And there's no question that clubs will start to look at these sort of mature-age players now that GWS and Gold Coast have so many early picks in the draft.

''Whenever I go home to Wagga and surrounding areas and see guys running around in those country comps - with the right sort of training and preparation and discipline, I honestly think they could make it. In my mind, some of them could easily play AFL footy, no question.

''For whatever reason when they were younger, whether it was the discipline, or they didn't want to leave home - especially the country boys - they chose not to come to the city. They were happy to stay where they were and do their apprenticeships in the bush. There's plenty of blokes like that.''

Carey, who returned on Sunday night from an AFL promotion in New Guinea, said he could not understand the obsession with looking overseas for AFL talent when the solution to many clubs' problems was sitting right there on their doorstep.

''We're looking at Papua New Guina and we're looking at Ireland and South Africa and all around the world and yet we have all these boys in the bush - right on our doorstep - who, with the right sort of training, could do the same thing as Podsiadly,'' Carey said.

''He is probably an extreme case because 28 is old in a football sense, there's no getting away from that. You wouldn't see too many clubs looking at a 28 year-old, but 24, 25? Definitely. There are plenty of them out there.

''And if they were given the opportunity at that age, many of them would jump at it. Say if they fronted up to the new training facility at North Melbourne, and had the right people around them teaching and guiding them, I think there'd be an abundance of them out there who could make the grade.''

For all his ability to slot seamlessly into the Geelong forward line, Podsiadly might not have made quite the same splash had he been recruited by a lesser club, Carey said. ''Geelong were awesome on the weekend and he probably wouldn't be as dominant if he was playing for the Tigers, would he?''

Carey said North Melbourne recruited David King from Port Melbourne as a 22-year-old and that was considered radical at the time. ''Kingy was old when the Kangas got him from Port but what a great story he turned out to be,'' he said.

Despite his conviction about the locally-grown talent, Carey said the Papuans were very good AFL prospects because they were lean, tough and skilled and PNG would one day be a productive recruiting zone for the AFL.