Title defence - they're two words seemingly outlawed at New South Wales Waratahs this season. Forget the magic of last year and the 63,000 screaming fans from that epic August night at ANZ Stadium; it's all in the past.

"Well, mate, the way I see it, and I know you're going to think this is a bit strange, but I don't think we're ahead of the pack, like we've already handed the trophy back, that's long gone," Waratahs coach Michael Cheika told ESPN on Wednesday.

In reality, it was little more than six months ago that Michael Hooper and Dave Dennis hoisted the Waratahs' maiden Super Rugby trophy high into the Sydney sky. But talking to Cheika, you'd think that drought-breaking triumph had come a decade ago, such is his desire to improve and bring the best out of his star-studded squad. That's no easy feat either when you consider the Waratahs topped the attacking and defensive charts, and finished the regular season with seven straight bonus-point victories.

"What we want to do is to try and improve our attack and the aggression in our defensive side," Cheika told ESPN. "We also think that there were some areas we weren't very good at last year that we think we can improve on…and go somewhere where we haven't been before in our heads to get a win every week. And I think that idea of defending something isn't even in our psyche at the moment because I think we've got clear amongst ourselves that we've got nothing to defend.

A run of bonus-point victories on the way to the final would suggest the Waratahs were more than capable when it came to scoring tries but Cheika, who now also juggles Wallabies duties, said there were a number of occasions when five points went begging in 2014.

MIchael Cheika has moved on from the Waratahs' amazing win over the Crusaders © Getty Images

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"I think just our work off the ball," he said when asked where the holes were in the Waratahs' attack. "I think a lot of our stuff on the ball was very good but I'd like to see us work a bit harder to get into position off the ball, get our alignment right so that we can take advantage of the opportunities we are creating and definitely in support play. Last year (we had) a lot of linebreaks with not the finish that we wanted. And this year, I think we can work on our inside, outside support so when we do make breaks we are converting more often than not."

One man certain to be involved in the scoring, and creating, of tries will be Israel Folau. But could he be doing it from a different position? Media reports last week revealed Folau himself was keen on a switch to the centres and it looks to have been a plan for some time; though one without a definitive launch date.

"We've talked about it (Folau playing outside-centre) since day one, about him playing up there," Cheika said. "I think he's still got a bit to go in realising his full potential at fullback around the positional play piece. But I'd definitely say we might take a look at it at some stage during the year or if not, definitely into next year."

Sharper attack, improved finishing, greater aggression and physicality in defence and even a positional switch for Izzy - it's a long list of plans. But that's what you have to do to win trophies; "title defence" suggests you're simply standing still.