The moderates in the NSW Liberals are in a fight they never wanted over Katherine Deves

For two weeks, moderates within the New South Wales Liberal party have been asking the same question: why did the prime minister pick lightning rod candidate Katherine Deves in Warringah?

Amid the chaos of the NSW preselection saga, their original preferred candidate, the Sydney barrister Jane Buncle, also pulled out.

In the end, Warringah was an afterthought.

Prior to the federal intervention that saw Scott Morrison, Dominic Perrottet and former state party president Christine McDiven take control of nominations, the factions in NSW had sought to carve out a deal which would keep everyone happy-ish and avoid a takeover.

As sources from both the left and the right of the party told Guardian Australia this week, neither candidate was likely to trouble Steggall, but nor would they have caused any headaches.

On the same day Deves was announced as the Warringah candidate, the Liberal party also confirmed Jenny Ware in Hughes and Maria Kovacic in Parramatta.

With a number of senior ministers eyeing the exits ahead of the state election in March, the lack of discipline is perhaps not surprising. But the divisions exposed within the NSW Liberal party by the federal election suggest that it could be a difficult 12 months ahead.