Bell and Clarke are not only best mates, but also business partners who have done several multimillion-dollar deals with each other.

In 2009, Bell sold his Bondi Beach bachelor pad to Clarke for $6 million, the scene of the former Australian cricket captain’s infamous break-up with paparazzi magnet, former bikini model Lara Bingle.

More recently Clarke paid more than $5 million to buy Bell’s original superyacht, Ghost, from him, which he charters – $3000 an hour for a minimum four-hour cruise – through their business Ghost Elite Charters.

Until six years ago, Bell bathed in the limelight. He dated a string of high-profile, beautiful women over the years, including television personalities, the late Charlotte Dawson and Sami Lukis.

In 2017, his marriage to former Getaway reporter Kelly Landry imploded spectacularly, generating a never-ending stream of headlines. Highly intimate personal details about their marriage were made public when she unsuccessfully sought an AVO against him.

He has assiduously avoided the spotlight ever since, moving to Noosa to a multimillion-dollar compound while Landry and their daughters live nearby.

Bell also makes an appearance in the Noosa video featuring Clarke and Yarbrough, during which she accused him of cheating with his former girlfriend, celebrity activewear designer Pip Edwards.

Also appearing in the video is Today co-host Karl Stefanovic, another one of the “boys”. Stefanovic is married to Yarbrough’s older sister, Jasmine, and was reportedly the person who introduced Jade to his friend Clarke.

Stefanovic has declined to comment on the ugly fracas, and unsurprisingly did not respond to calls this week. However, he has confided in friends about how disappointed he is with Clarke, and how a happy family holiday with their young daughters had turned into an embarrassing sideshow no parent would be proud of.

While not in Noosa, another fully paid-up member of the club is former footballer Anthony Minichiello, who has been married to shoe designer and socialite Terry since 2012. They were partying up a storm on board Bell’s recently acquired $15 million superyacht Ghost III last year for one of the “boys” trips to Europe.

Also onboard was millionaire publican Peter Calligeros, another one of the “boys”, and his wife, Sacha. In 2017, they bought Bell and Landry’s former home in Watsons Bay. For $18 million.

And there was no mistaking Seven television personality Larry Emdur on board Ghost III either, with his wife Sylvie – one of the few marriages in the club to have lasted the distance.

Emdur and Bell are no strangers to mixing business with pleasure either. In 2017, Bell bought the Emdur’s luxury clifftop home in Dover Heights. No agents were needed as the deal was negotiated directly between the two high-profile friends after Bell made an unsolicited offer – $11.5 million – for the property that was “too good to refuse”.

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Just a few months before, Bell had bid on a Bellevue Hill apartment on behalf of Emdur but failed to secure the property when bidding went about $1 million higher than expected – it sold for $6.65 million.

Another friend of Bell and Clarke is rugby star Kurtley Beale, currently facing his own publicity storm over sexual assault charges. Beale sailed with Bell and Clarke in the 2015 Sydney to Hobart.

An “honorary” member of the club is veteran bikini model and single mum, Laura Csortan, who has been a close friend of Bell for years. She was also on the European cruise last year. Bell has been a constant in her life for years.

The “glue” that keeps it all together is undoubtedly Grant Vandenberg, the patriarch of the boys. Vandenberg is a former tabloid reporter and editor of the National Enquirer’s long defunct Australian edition. For years “Vando” – as his mates call him – has been behind the scenes negotiating some of the biggest media stories in the country. He declined to comment on this one.

Clarke’s “boys” and their glitzy brand of mid-life machismo – where face creams and manicures go hand-in-hand with beers and a day at the footy – has some crossover with billionaire James Packer’s “Pick and Stick Club”, a term first coined by Packer’s close family friend Alan Jones in reference to the people one keeps close.

Packer’s former Crown Casino was a big ticket sponsor of Bell’s Sydney to Hobart supermaxi, while Stefanovic also ranks among one of Packer’s closest friends. Stefanovic took his family and sister-in-law – and Clarke’s then-girlfriend Jade – to stay with Packer at his luxury compound in Aspen over Christmas.

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According to Jade’s social media feed, she appeared to embrace the hospitality, with Packer and Stefanovic’s other “mate”, Ben Tilley, who has transcended multi-generational boys clubs as a former poker buddy of Kerry Packer. A cosy club for sure.