Kurtley Beale wants to rediscover his 2014 Super Rugby form © Getty Images

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Controversial Wallabies and Waratahs playmaker Kurtley Beale has put a tough finish to 2014 behind him and is focused on rebuilding his reputation in Australian rugby.

Back in action with New South Wales after the off-season break, Beale is relishing life as part of "a great group of guys" since re-signing with the Super Rugby franchise and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) earlier this year.

The decision to re-sign Beale drew criticism in some parts due to his involvement in the text messaging scandal that ripped apart Australian rugby, and the in-flight argument with former Wallabies business manager Di Patson that triggered the fallout. With his immediate future now secure for another season, Beale is trying to turn things around - on and off the field.

"Everything is going really well," Beale told ESPN on Thursday. "I had a really good break and I'm looking forward to a big year. Obviously re-signing another year with the Waratahs and ARU is huge for me and there's a big opportunity for me to get back into the swing of things and play the football that I know I can play, and to try and turn things around.

"I don't think I had the opportunity to show myself in the Wallaby jersey last year and obviously there are a lot of guys who are coming through and they're showing what they've got, which is a great thing for the game and a great thing for the Wallabies all up. So there's a big focus around that and I'm just looking forward to it."

With Michael Cheika adding the Wallabies coaching job to his Waratahs duties, Beale knows strong Super Rugby form will go a long way to winning a Test jumper. But the coach's motto for life is perhaps of greater importance as Beale seeks to earn back the respect of Australian rugby fans.

"They're just a great group of guys and there's a lot of respect for the coaching staff, and for all the staff upstairs as well," Beale said of the Waratahs. "And there's a clear purpose here of what we want to achieve, on and off the field, and Cheik really makes that clear. He always says 'we want to be better footballers but we want to be an even better person'. That's a bit of an outlook on how we go about things here at the Waratahs."

Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale have established a wonderful midfield partnership at the Waratahs © Getty Images

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Plenty of people are likely to reserve judgement and wait to see whether Beale can live up to those words, and still more will be desperate to see him fail altogether. But there's no doubting he has the support of his Waratahs team-mates, none more so than fly-half Bernard Foley - whom Beale is delighted to be back alongside in the midfield.

"It feels like we never really left the game," Beale said of his combination with Foley. "That's the advantage of training week in, week out with Bernie; he's got a really good head on his shoulders and he's a very skilful player and he knows a lot about the game. I understand the way he plays and he knows how I play so that's big benefit for us and the style we want to play."

That style will again be all about attack, again, although Beale said the Waratahs would tweak their expansive game plan as they attempt to stay ahead of Super Rugby's chasing pack.

"We'll play the same way; it worked last year," Beale told ESPN. "Obviously a lot of teams will have tried to pick up on the way we play, especially the Australian teams. But I've got a lot of faith in Michael Cheika and Daryl Gibson, and they know how to tweak things. It's just a matter of us applying ourselves each week and making sure that everyone is in the right headspace and the best possible condition so that we can go out there and deliver a game plan that is going to work for us.

"Rugby's a simple game, so you don't want to over-complicate too much, and I think Cheik's got a really good understanding of that. So it's just a matter of us turning up and applying ourselves, and playing for each other."