Who can tell the difference?

The two main teams are pretty indistinguishable these days, unlike when Turnbull was growing up.

Back then Labor was the working man's side, Liberals made the rich get richer, and never the twain would meet.

You could tell who played for whom by their postcode, bank balance, school tie or whether they had a trade as opposed to a profession.

Not any more.

They've all gone to a big makeover factory and emerged pretty much the same, apart from the rebadging.

Similar team formation, tactics, coaching methods, point scoring, sponsors, reward programs, backroom staff and goals, mainly to win the grand final every three years.

Swap the words spoken by the opposing captains after each round, and the crowd at large wouldn't be much the wiser.

The interchange benches are populated by interchangeable people.

Turnbull likens political parties to football clubs.

He says they seek to recruit people they think might be good players.

Turnbull did have talks about becoming a Labor draft pick.

But it's who did the courting that's the issue.

The Liberal skipper says it was Labor.

Labor figures say it was the other way around.

Senior minister Martin Ferguson painted a picture of an ambitious Turnbull ''shopping around'' for a political party.

According to Ferguson, ''he was basically saying 'I'm out there, I'm a gun for hire, if you want me in the Labor Party I'll say what you want me to say, alternatively I can go to the Liberal Party'.'' You'd think he was talking about a lawyer or something.

Labor is no doubt enjoying any discomfort it can visit upon a foe who might not be leading his side out in the next grand final if anyone could come up with a viable alternative.

But Tony Abbott, one of Turnbull's key forwards, has admitted he was once ''quite interested'' in playing for the other side, and no one thought that was terribly shocking.

Turnbull himself has had many friends in the Labor Party.

He even went into business with one, former NSW premier Neville Wran.

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce made an interesting contribution to the debate.

''They say if you're not a socialist before the age of 24 you've got no heart, and if you're still one after 24 you've got no head,'' he said.

''It's just that Malcolm made that transition a bit later in life.''

That might not have sounded too bad had Senator Joyce not gone on to say: ''He [Turnbull] is not my leader. My leader is Warren Truss.''

That is true in the sense that Truss heads the Nationals, but it falls well short of a ringing endorsement for the skipper of the Coalition side. Anyway, history is awash with mighty figures who could have jumped either way.

Robert E.Lee, for example, was offered command of the northern army in the US Civil War before opting to lead the South.

Now there's another bloke who picked the wrong side. AAP