The conventional wisdom was clear: if Scott Morrison wanted to do the right thing by the Liberal Party in NSW, he should have called a federal election before the state poll. Voters might have seized the early opportunity to express their disgust at the Prime Minister’s indulgent Canberra claque. So salved, voters would have then felt free to return the solid ol' Berejiklian administration in NSW.

But events might put another spin on this wisdom. It turns out Gladys Berejiklian was not disadvantaged too severely by going first. Far from being punished for the sins of Morrison et al, Berejiklian emerged triumphant in her own right.

Basking in Berejiklian's afterglow? Scott Morrison with the NSW Premier on the night of her election victory last month. Credit:AAP

And now, what if the momentum created by her victory – a third in a row for the Coalition in NSW – in turn carries Morrison to an unlikely win himself? Like the canny cyclist riding up the Alp, Morrison might have planned it this way all along: sitting behind someone else doing the hard work into the hard wind, he will have saved his legs for the opportunistic sprint at the end.

In some respects the pressure is off Sydney and NSW at this election. From the "Howard Battlers" days, the perceived cultural biases of the western Sydney voter have weighed heavily on national democratic exercises. John Howard might have lent his name to the nomenclature, but the fascination with what might have been important to Sydney suburbia did not end with his prime ministership.