Like a game of Jenga, the Nats’ dismal showing at the by-election was simply the last wobbly block in a tower that had been swaying precariously for months.

Party leader Troy Grant on Monday walked the plank before he was pushed, while Griffith-based deputy leader Adrian Piccoli was so politically tied to Mr Grant he had little option but to follow him overboard.

By hitching its wagon to the Liberals, the Nats had betrayed its bush base and the voters of Orange gave voice to that uncomfortable truth.

Many Nationals supporters had long grumbled about how one-sided the Coalition “marriage of convenience” had become in NSW.

But the Nats’ support of council mergers and the greyhound ban were surely grounds for divorce.

Both issues impacted heavily on rural and regional communities, where councils are intrinsic to a town’s identity and where inner-city animal liberation sensibilities are hardly a hot issue.

Some Nationals, like Cootamundra MP Katrina Hodgkinson, were so disenchanted with the party’s stance on the greyhound ban, they publicly denounced it.

By standing up for her party’s core values, Ms Hodgkinson was dumped from a senior role and left to languish on the backbench.

She has kept a dignified silence since her demotion but she should take some satisfaction from the fact she has been vindicated.

A Coalition is, by definition, a difficult balancing act, but the Nationals must heed the lesson and forge a new path.

It all started on Tuesday morning, with the election of a new leadership team.

At the top of their to-do list should be something which has become a political rarity – to listen to the concerns of real people.