PORT Adelaide chief executive officer Keith Thomas has guaranteed the immediate future of coach Matthew Primus, saying he deserves the chance to lift the club from the AFL doldrums.

[ Listen: Keith Thomas on FIVEaa ]

But Thomas said talk of Primus' future tenure as coach was understandable.

"It's very easy to take aim at the coach," Thomas told 5AA.

Primus said he expected scrutiny after Port's inept 37-point loss to Richmond on Sunday, but Thomas backed the coach.

Signed on a three-year deal, Primus' final season in 2013 is believed to be optional for both club and coach.

But Thomas said Primus deserved the chance to rectify his horrific record of four wins from 28 matches since being appointed fulltime coach.

"Sunday's game was really quite ordinary," Thomas said.

"But we have to keep some perspective around the position that Port Adelaide is in.

"The club is not in a poor state, in a shemozzle.

"The team and the coaching group is a work in progress ... but we are very confident that we are improving.

"We have had a setback on Sunday, but let's not jump at shadows after six rounds."

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But Thomas said he had challenged Primus and his coaching assistants to fix Port's glaring problem in their five-game losing streak - a misfiring midfield.

"I challenged them ... this is a great group of midfield football people in our (coaching) group," he said.

"The problem we have got at the moment is we're not winning enough contested ball out of the middle to put ourselves in attacking positions often enough.

"There is no better group, in my mind, with Matty Primus at the helm, to fix that problem - and that is what we have got to do."

Thomas conceded Primus' debut season as coach last year, which returned a club record low of three wins, was unfair on the coach.

"Last year Matty clearly didn't have the resources that he required to do the job at the AFL level," he said.

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"We went about summer to fix that - we employed four new coaches.

"Now even that, and getting that (coaching) group into a cohesive working order, is a very big challenge for a young coach.

"So we are working with that group right now to make those things the best they can possibly be.

"That is a very significant change and we needed to do it."