Charlie Norris was three weeks shy of 29 when he first played for Collingwood in 1910, a season he crowned by rucking in the grand final win over Carlton - all 178cm of him. He crossed to Fitzroy, played in two more flags, then became an umpire.

Billy Proudfoot was a Magpie from day one - in the first VFA side in 1892, then as the VFL began in round one, 1897, when he was 28 and 331 days. He captained the club, played in its first two premierships, and turned out under an assumed name when the new police commissioner banned Constable Proudfoot from his Saturday sorties in black and white.

On Sunday a third name will join this quirky club, although given all that has changed in football, James Podsiadly really needed only have played one game to be a tale worthy of retelling 100 years hence. His century will spark widespread celebration, for there are few more popular AFL footballers than the man who took so long to become one.

"It's one of the best stories in football," says David Johnson, who with Podsiadly joined Essendon as a rookie in 1999, eked out a 79-game career with Geelong while his mate and best man was playing in the VFL, and regrets only that he was finished as a Cat before "Pods" belatedly arrived, so never played a big-time game alongside him.

Dom Gleeson, Geelong's VFL captain who jokes that their "romantic story" started when Podsiadly was the first person to introduce himself as Gleeson walked into the Werribee rooms in 2004, thinks what his mate has done is simply amazing. "I've got my tickets booked, I'm pumped to see him run out."

So instantly at home did Podsiadly look after first taking his place in the Geelong forward line aged 28 and 213 days, it was easy to overlook the body of water that had passed beneath the bridge. He didn't play football until he was 17, and barely 10 games in the TAC Cup before landing at Windy Hill. Speaking after the Cats picked him on rookie draft day 2009, he reflected that "guys learn to play footy in the juniors, I've learned to play in the seniors".

As a teen he favoured tennis. He plays so well that, in their grown-up games, Gleeson is allowed to hit into the doubles alleys while Podsiadly is confined to the singles court. "And I can barely scratch a point off him."

He joined Essendon carrying an ankle injury and played so sporadically that Johnson thought he must be soft. Soon he was marvelling at his work rate, that raking kick, the "something special" that drew comparisons with Scott Lucas.

For a time they enjoyed themselves in the manner of young footballers caught in the semi-to-fully professional crossover, "but we soon grew out of it". Sharing Podsiadly's grandfather's house in Yarraville, they did their own pre-pre-season of running, boxing and wrestling. Johnson kicked on at Geelong, Podsiadly toiled without reward at Collingwood.

He did a pre-season with the Cats and Johnson watched him "absolutely smash training", matching and bettering the likes of Matthew Scarlett and Tom Harley. "Jeez," he thought, "this bloke can really play." For reasons nobody could really explain, he was passed over yet again.

"But he was never bitter. He knew what he was capable of and it was frustrating for him, but he's the kind of guy who won't give up."

Gleeson reckons he kept any lingering AFL ambition to himself at Werribee, presented as someone whose goal was no greater than being the best VFL player he could. He threw himself into accounting studies, then an exercise science degree, took his VFL games tally beyond 175 into life membership territory.

Yet whenever he came up against a team whose full-back was on an AFL list, it was as if there was an unspoken point to prove. "More often than not he'd kick a bag and destroy them," Gleeson recalls.

Constant improvement was key. Johnson thinks he never gave up on making it, even as the rejections mounted like a cruel catalogue of torment and the offers to play interstate, in the suburbs and the country kept coming. It made him stronger in every way; he remembers his mate struggling to bench press 50 kilograms as a teenager, then cranking out 175kg a decade later at Geelong. "He grew as a man and grew as a player."

The improvement has endured. Gleeson cites Podsiadly telling him he wanted to play lighter as a Crow to hold back time and keep covering the ground like it's a tennis court. "And he's done that."

When the Cats lured him to work in strength and conditioning and play VFL, Johnson told him: "This is your chance to get in, because they'll see what you can do." He heard Podsiadly say what anyone would when made a mature-aged rookie - that he'd love just one game - but suspected his wishlist still ran to several long-awaited seasons in the sun, even a premiership. "He's done exactly what I thought he'd do."

That he is now an Adelaide footballer bothers no-one; Gleeson remembers him leaving last year saying it was he who owed Geelong, not the reverse. There were no jeers when "Pods" came home in round one this year.

Johnson thinks he's still fast and agile enough, sound of body and playing to a level where he could go around again next year aged 33. Gleeson wonders if he might not just walk away, happy with what he's done, determined to have something left for playing with the children he and wife Claire hope to have.

Whatever, Johnson says it's who rather than what he is that is Podsiadly's biggest achievement.

"He's a great footballer, but more importantly he's a great person. I just really respect his values and morals - he's respectful, he's honest, he appreciates all the support he gets. That's why I love him."