The WA Liberals are desperately hoping David Honey can provide them with a much needed circuit breaker if he secures an expected comfortable win at today's Cottesloe by-election.

Like the arrival of a new colleague in any workplace, the arrival of a new MP in parliament creates a certain level of excitement about what they will add to a party's team and, more importantly, to the broader West Australian political landscape.

In the case of Dr Honey the anticipation is palpable because of the circumstances in which he was pre-selected.

Despite the Liberals' dire need for more women, Dr Honey won pre-selection over 40-year-old Emma Roberts, a senior lawyer with BHP, who on paper appeared an impressive and demographically ideal candidate.

Mining executive Emma Roberts was defeated in the Cottesloe pre-selection battle. ( LinkedIn: Emma Roberts )

The reasons for the local preselectors' choice were many and varied, but included a belief that Mr Honey's long involvement with the party, including a stint as its state president, would mean he will have the political acumen to hit the ground running.

He will certainly have big shoes to fill if he does take over the blue-ribbon seat from Colin Barnett — a man who won the party two state elections and served as premier for more than eight-and-a-half years.

A lacklustre party's high hopes

Even before Dr Honey's pre-selection, the Liberals, including Mr Barnett, made no secret of the fact they wanted their Cottesloe candidate to one day be a minister, a deputy premier or a premier.

The element of hype in the party surrounding Dr Honey's expected arrival in Parliament seems to also be partly driven by a hope he will help lift the current lacklustre performance of their team.

Everyone comes to Parliament with a very different skill set and Dr Honey's is certainly unique.

He has a PhD in chemistry and his most recent job was managing Alcoa's refinery residue operations across Australia, the United State, Spain and Brazil.

If nothing else, his expected entry into the WA Liberals' parliamentary team might create some healthy competition and prompt some of their other MPs to lift their game.

Many appear to still be struggling with the role of holding the McGowan Government to account and that could be linked to the demoralising thought that they are facing at least another three, or even seven, long years on the Opposition benches.

Little appetite for a thankless role

There is currently no obvious successor to Opposition Leader Mike Nahan, who most agree will not lead the party all the way to the next state election.

While Deputy Leader Liza Harvey and Shadow Treasurer Dean Nalder's names are often thrown forward, more recently it has been newly-appointed Shadow Health Minister Sean L'Estrange who seems to have the most ambition, and an at times overzealous hunger to improve his skills, particularly in the important Parliamentary chamber.

Senior Liberals Sean L'Estrange, Liza Harvey, Dean Nalder and Mike Nahan, who is not expected to lead the party at the next election. ( ABC News: Courtney Bembridge )

But with three long years to go until the next election, the chances of any leadership challenge in the foreseeable future are remote.

Most Liberals agree they are not yet performing at the level they would like — a situation exacerbated by the fact they have just 13 MPs left in the Lower House since their devastating election loss a year ago.

They may whinge about Dr Nahan's leadership behind the scenes, but no one at this stage has the appetite to take over a role widely acknowledged as hard work and a largely thankless task.

An untested entity

If Dr Honey does live up to the hype and show himself to be a good political performer, the whole dynamic of the Liberals' team could quickly improve — particularly if others suddenly see him as a threat to their future ambitions.

But despite all of his corporate experience and much-hyped political acumen, Dr Honey remains an untested entity in Parliament.

Those who reach the top in politics are those who usually perform exceptionally well in the chamber.

Parliament is a very robust environment and many a new face has entered with high hopes attached to them, only to turn out an absolute fizzer.

As one senior Liberal said this week, there's no doubt Dr Honey has the intellect, business connections and political acumen, but the jury is out on whether he will become the kind of future political leader the party so desperately needs.