The Wales fly-half endured a difficult time Down Under having burst onto the scene and played a starring role at the World Cup and RBS 6 Nations.
But former Wales wing Mark Jones, Priestland’s backs coach at the Scarlets, reckons he will benefit for the experience.
“Rhys will definitely kick on another level this year. It’s been a lot for him to take in in the last year or so,” said Jones.
“It’s a complete role reversal of what I experienced in my early days as an international.
“I was there with Steve Hansen when things went terribly badly, but there was a lot of good stuff going on and that kept me going.
“Results weren’t showing it, but I thought to myself we are much better than results are showing us.
“We saw the culmination of that when Mike Ruddock took over and we had a season and a half of really good rugby. I developed and got better from that.
“Rhys has had it the other way round, where things have gone really, really well and all of a sudden now, bang, Wales have lost three games on the trot and suddenly people are asking questions.
“You also have to remember he has been injured for large parts of the season.
”His knee has been heavily strapped. Because of that injury he lost the ability to be himself. We want to get him back to that at the Scarlets.”
The 25-year-old will enter the new season at Parc y Scarlets as their frontline fly-half, following Stephen Jones’ switch to London Wasps.
And Jones reckons being back in west Wales and out of the national spotlight will do wonders for Priestland’s confidence.
“It will be good for Rhys to come back into the Scarlets environment, think about what went wrong and just work on those things here,” added the former Wales wing.
“Then when he gets back in there, which he will, there’s no doubt about that, he will be better equipped.
“Stephen was great when he was here and was a great influence and character within the set-up. But I’m confident and happy that Rhys and the other boys will take on that responsibility.
“Rhys understands how we want to play the game but will still make the decisions within that.
“You fall on your bad decisions but he is the first person to come and see me if he makes a mistake. When you are like that you will make less and less mistakes as your career goes on. “
