MOVE over Ivan Cleary.

You can keep your metaphorical bus. St George Illawarra has a literal bus.

Cleary infamously urged his biggest Wests Tigers stars to “get on the bus” and commit their futures to the club when taking the reins of the club last year.

But the Dragons’ bus has four wheels, an engine, and a dozen Dragons already aboard. And it’s helping a couple of high-profile recruits feel right at home ... away from home.

Round 19

James Graham and Ben Hunt are suiting up for the Red V this year, but they wanted to live a little closer to Sydney than an hour south in sunny Wollongong.

Luckily, a handful of their new teammates were already set up in Sydney’s south, scattered around the Shire and surrounding suburbs.

In fact, there will be 12 of them in total, once Cameron McInnes makes the move north in a couple of weeks.

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Dragons recruits Ben Hunt and James Graham. Source: News Corp Australia

So club statesman Jason Nightingale came up with an idea to hire a bus for the entire year.

Instead of driving down to training in half a dozen different cars — some making the trip by themselves — the dozen teammates can enjoy each others’ company and get to know one another a little better.

“Our crew has expanded. We’ve now got 12 with Ben and James Graham in our Sydney crew,” Nightingale told foxsports.com.au.

“We’ve invested in a bus so we can include our whole Sydney family. There’s 12 of us when Cam McInnes moves up in a month. We have a 12-seater bus so we can all ride to training.

“We pay for that all between us and we can include guys like Nene (Macdonald), Duff (Matt Dufty), Hosty (Jacob Host) and a couple of young guys that live in Sydney.

“It breaks up the trip when you have plenty of people to talk to.”

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The dozen players have been taking it in turns to drive the bus, while the 11 teammates sit back and relax either side of the gruelling pre-season training sessions.

Last year it was Nightingale, Tyson Frizell, and Josh Dugan who were making the trip, and often carpooled together.

Now most of the crew are in a group chat and often catch up outside their rostered days on to socialise and bond.

“We always catch up, especially on our recovery days during the week,” Frizell told foxsports.com.au.

“We make an effort to go out for brekky or do something. We’re pretty close, especially when we are living away from Wollongong, and we don’t live too far from each other.”

Frizell has already become close friends with new teammate Hunt, who he spent plenty of time with in Kangaroos camp during the World Cup.

Dragons signing Ben Hunt at WIN Stadium in Wollongong. Source: News Corp Australia

Their partners have also hit it off, which has helped the Hunt family slot seamlessly into their new life.

“I’d met Ben in (Australian) camp and my partner had met his partner, and she kind of helped them out (finding a house),” Frizell said.

“They live just down road from us now. We went over there the first day they moved in to see how they were travelling.

“I think they’re enjoying their time in the Shire. It’s different to Brissy but they are enjoying it.”

But with the proximity to his new teammates, a dark secret of Hunt’s has been discovered.

Dragons recruit James Graham. Source: News Corp Australia

Despite being one of rugby league’s biggest earners, he’s a little shy about opening his wallet ... allegedly.

Nightingale laments his new teammate isn’t too keen on shouting the boys a coffee.

“We found out who’s a little tighter with their wallet and ironically it’s Ben. He’s had his wallet out the least,” Nightingale joked.

“Benji (Marshall) is a big shouter and tried to tell Ben you have to shout early. He struggled with that for a while but we finally got a shout out of him two weeks into the car pool. That was a breakthrough for us.”