Alex Newsome is ready to start from scratch at the Waratahs.
The NSW-born and raised Newsome signed with the Western Force in 2017, but was back in Sydney by December after the Force's axing put him on the hunt for a return home.
He has impressed in preseason, drawing some early comparisons to former Wallabies winger Adam Ashley-Cooper, and the 23-year-old showed his finishing abilities in Queenstown, with a double in their opening trial match.
He had become a regular feature of the Force's starting side last year, playing 14 matches and scoring five tries, but he's no stranger to having to prove himself, having gone to Perth without a guaranteed contract at the end of 2016.
"Going to a new club, you've basically got to start again," he said.
"I really enjoyed my year last year but now it's back to square one.
"It's just building on my experience from last year and plenty of depth in the backline."
It's not going to be an easy ride for Newsome, with the Waratahs boasting a host of stars in their backs department, including a handful of Wallabies, but that's a prospect he is embracing rather than shying away from.
"You look at guys like Bernard (Foley) and Kurtley (Beale), Israel (Folau)," he said.
"To have those guys potentially inside it's a pretty exciting thought.
"Their great guys, just back at training in the new year and you can already see the Intensity lift amongst the whole squad with those guys.
"For myself, hopefully being able to play with those guys, ('ll try and) learn as much as I can and play some good attacking football, with the skill set those guys have."
His scores on Friday night provided 10 of the Waratahs' 29 points as they went down to the Highlanders in their trial, conceding 55 points in the process, but Newsome said it was a score that should be put in its context.
"You’ve got to put it in perspective, they’re very important these trial matches for guys to compete for spots and that's first and foremost what it's all about,"he said.
"We went into this game focusing on competing to win in all our effort areas or our trademarks as we like to call them.
"(It was a) great first chance for everyone to play some footy together because after a long preseason of strength and conditioning it's obviously going to take a while for combinations to get going, especially with a pretty heavy rotation throughout the game."
Coach Daryl Gibson was reluctant to single out any one player after the match but said Newsome's tries came off the back of positive team work.
"We really controlled the ball well in the first and third thirds of the game, we were really good at recycling the ball and going forward and playing very simply.
"Alex was on the end of a couple of good movements from sustained periods of possession."
"How we came unstuck was when we didn't control the ball."
The Waratahs open their Super Rugby season on Saturday February 24 against the Stormers, kicking off at 7:45pm AEDT. Buy tickets here.
