Previously an inner sanctum consisting of senior coach Ken Hinkley, Michael Voss, the eight-man leadership group and generally high performance boss Darren Burgess, the meetings now regularly include Thomas, football boss Chris Davies, coaching director Shaun Hart and the entire coaching group.

Other senior players who have emerged more recently as on-field generals such as Charlie Dixon also occasionally take part.

The directional reboot took place after Port lost to Geelong by 48 points in round-five. Beset by injury and suspension to key players the club's hierarchy took the view that the leadership group's struggles mirrored those of the down-on-form midfield generals led by captain Boak, vice-captain Hamish Hartlett, Ollie Wines and Brad Ebert.

Club chief Thomas confirmed he had pushed for the structural change with the view that the on- and off-field sections of the club should work together more closely to develop Port's on-field leaders.

While all parties played down the connection, the two strands of the club began working together shortly after Boak contacted chairman David Koch after Koch responded to a supporter on Twitter labelling the Power's performance in round four against GWS "a disgrace".

Boak told Fairfax Media: "We just didn't think our leadership meetings were as efficient or effective as they could be. It might sound weird but they were probably too game-focused.

"... We wanted our meetings to get into broader issues within the footy department and the club generally. So we've invited Ken to have more of an input than he already did.

"We get line coaches, other players, Chris Davies and Keith Thomas involved when appropriate … basically anyone who we think can help us either raise the right questions or come up with viable solutions.

"Ultimately though once all the information is on the table it comes back to us to develop any plans and see that they're acted on."

In April, Boak paid tribute to Koch's passion, but said he would have preferred his views be kept in-house and that the tweet had "rattled a few players". Koch later responded saying those troubled players should "harden up".

Last week Koch told the ABC before the Richmond game that the club had been let down by the leadership group. Thomas defended his chairman's potentially inflammatory comments. He said that Koch's view should be taken in the historic context of earlier this season when the leadership group, largely consisting of the club's midfielders had been down on form.

Rated by Champion Data on the eve of the season as a top four to top six prospect Port has under-achieved for the second year in succession. Needing a win over Hawthorn to keep its slim finals hopes alive some club bosses now regret not moving earlier to work more closely with their on-field leaders.

The chairman said yesterday: "Our aim is to work with our leaders to develop the leadership skills of our key players as much as we possibly can."

Thomas said he had also worked to widen the perspective of the leadership group to understand the bigger off-field picture of the club. Issues such as the club's strong stand on illicit drugs – Thomas has led the charge in the belief the AFL's policy remains too lenient – and Port's concerted push into China have both been agenda issues.

Added Boak: "Again it sounds weird but by bringing more people into the meetings we've actually made them a lot shorter. All the info and resources we need are right there. In a way we've streamlined several separate meetings into one."

"I've found, and from the feedback I've had the other guys feel the same, that we've got a clearer direction now in terms of what outcomes we want and how we can achieve them.

"It's hard to say exactly how that's helped our performances on field but since we've made the changes you can see, with the exception of the Freo game, we have been delivering more consistently. It's obviously not yet at the level you want and that's the challenge we have to keep working at."