The Wallabies playmaker was front and centre as Randwick demolished the Hunter Wildfires 64-10 in the Shute Shield season opener at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday.

The home side had no answer to the pace and power of the defending premiers in a 10-try romp.

Pulling the strings was Beale.

A day after the funeral of his younger brother Will, the Western Force-bound Beale played a hand in five tries.

In the second minute he skipped across the field, dummied on the inside and put fullback James Hendren in a hole with a flat pass.

It was a sign of things to come as Beale unleashed his full arsenal - cut out passes, inside balls, chip kicks, flat kicks to his outside men.

After the game, he stayed on the field for 10 minutes to sign autographs for kids.

It was Beale's first competition game in more than a year. The 35-year-old was stood down by the NSW Waratahs in January 2023 due to legal proceedings against him. A jury in February found Beale not guilty of sexual assault in a Bondi pub.

"It was good to have my first game back in the Shute Shield, it has been a while," the 95-Test veteran said. "It was obviously good to get a win. It was a horrible year out. It is nice to move forward and play some rugby again. I loved it.

"It was good to see a lot of people here. Rugby is alive. In the Shute Shield and community rugby, everybody is out there supporting their local team. It's good to be back sharing the love.

"I have some good young players around me. They are all aspiring to take the next step in their careers. It's good to throw the ball around and create opportunities for them. They are a talented bunch."

Wildfires coach Scott Coleman conceded that Beale was a "class above".

"Full credit to them. They are fast and precise and smoked us," Coleman said. "Kurtley is a class above this level. He made three or four cross-field kicks and had a hand in most of the good things they did in attack. He is definitely massive asset."

Beale put Hendren through in the second minute after a mistake from the kick-off by the Wildfires.

Five minutes later centre Nick Chan beat three defenders to finish off a counter attack from another Wildfires turnover.

The home side hit back through a penalty to Nate de Thierry and converted try to prop Bo Abra, who along with Hamish Moore and Rob Puli'uvea was strong.

However, Randwick scored just before half-time and again after it to bow the game out.

"It is not how we wanted to start to season," Coleman said. "There was a fair crowd here and we let them down. The tries either side of half-time broke us. We lost all our momentum. We blew a couple of tries in the first half, but missing one-on-one tackles killed us."