Canberra's got it's own arm of the Barmy Army and Raiders co-captain Josh Hodgson says that English connection will help George Williams fit in.
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Williams only arrived in the capital at the start of January and has just 10 weeks with his new Green Machine teammates to get ready for round one of the NRL season.
But he already has a connection with Hodgson from their time playing together for England.
It's the same with Elliott Whitehead and John Bateman, while Bateman and Ryan Sutton both played with him at English Super League club Wigan.
Williams is coming in to fill the boots of now Huddersfield Giants captain Aidan Sezer, who guided the Green Machine to last year's NRL grand final.
He'll form a halves pairing with Clive Churchill Medallist Jack Wighton.
Word out of the Raiders camp was Williams impressed during their 10-day camp on the Sunshine Coast.
They returned to Canberra on Saturday night, having fled north to escape the smoke from the NSW bushfires.
Time was of the essence for the Raiders, making the camp a blessing in disguise.
Which was why the England connection was so important.
"Yeah I think so. He's living with Ryan Sutton and them two came through juniors together and were best mates growing up," Hodgson said.
"I'm sure that will help him settle in. We've had similar scenarios previously with the other English lads.
"But not just them, all the Australian-based boys are all really welcoming - as I found when I first got in - really make it feel like home.
"That's something we have unique in Canberra. There's not a lot of kids who play for us who are actually from Canberra so we all kind of rely on each other.
"Which is a really good thing because it gives you a bit of connection outside of footy, which is always needed."
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Williams was mostly playing five-eighth for Wigan, but will fill the halfback role for the Raiders.
Hodgson said both he and Wighton were natural ball runners, giving them threats on either side of the park.
The England hooker revealed Wighton would take the reins of the team, guiding them around the field.
It was Sezer's role last season, but the No.6 will step up in his place in just his second season in the five-eighth role.
"Aidan was probably more of an organiser for us - organising and kicking, and telling everyone where to go," Hodgson said.
"Whereas we've got two blokes who are genuine runners of the ball and both can organise at the same time.
"I'm sure Jacko will probably do a majority of that for us.
"He's a really vocal kid and he knows his football, so he'll do a majority of that."
Hodgson said the two playmakers had both gelled over the past two weeks.
While Wighton started his pre-season before Christmas, he only started working with Williams less than two weeks ago.
The first few days of that was indoors at the AIS due to the toxic smoke that was making it unfit for athletes to train outdoors in Canberra.
"George is obviously one of the big ones we need to work on the connections," Hodgson said.
"He's part of the spine. He's one of the big blokes we needed to work with as well.
"But he's settled in really well. He's looked really sharp in training and he's been combining really well with Jacko, which is always really good signs for us especially with it only being the first week.
"It's been a really good week in terms of what we've been doing on the field. We've put some things into practice and it's certainly started very well.
"We've still got a lot of improvement yet ... but it's a good start for us so far."