Australian Test cricket captain Steve Waugh said he hoped Shane Warne's recent controversy would prove a career turning point.

Warne has been swept up in text sex allegations while serving a one-year suspension for taking a banned diuretic.

Waugh said on ABC TV's Enough Rope program that he hoped Warne would follow Australian one day skipper Ricky Ponting's example and go from strength to strength when he resumed playing in February.

"I think he would have learnt from the experience and you know, this may be a turning point in his life and his career that he sees things from a different perspective," Waugh said.

"Let's hope that this is the time where...that he doesn't repeat those mistakes.

"But I really feel for his family, they're the ones that get thrown into this and you see pictures of his kids and his wife and...it's not a good situation for them.

"He may have done the wrong thing but you've got to see a bigger picture than that...that he is a person and he's got feelings.

"And let's try and help him out and let's deal with it, rather than throwing another knife in his back."

Waugh cited the once controversial Ponting as an example that a player could turn his career around.

"Ricky had a few problems a few years ago...we had a few chats with him and said 'look we see you as the future of Australian cricket, one day, possibly you're going to be captain and you need to do things a certain way to get there'," Waugh said.

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