Alessandro Del Piero took a leading role in a players-only meeting held behind closed doors on Thursday aimed at ending the mounting crisis engulfing Sydney FC.

The turmoil surrounding Sydney has left their season's hopes in tatters, and Fairfax Media understands this prompted the players to hold talks away from coaches after training which addressed team morale, their performance and squad unity. The club's five-man leadership group of Del Piero, Richard Garcia, Terry McFlynn, Nicky Carle and Seb Ryall led the lengthy meeting in what was said to be an open and honest assessment of their predicament.

Neither the players nor the club wished to comment on the meeting although it is understood there was a positive outcome after hours of crisis talks with captain Del Piero playing an integral role in the discussions. Sydney's captain is said to have grown distant from the squad, often training alone, but quashed suggestions of retreating from his responsibilities by encouraging his teammates to fight together for the remainder of the year.

The talks had been planned for days with some within the leadership group preparing detailed speeches with a theme of ''togetherness'' in response to the potential of a rift within the squad, following the isolation of two players on Monday morning. Carle and Matt Thompson were ordered to train away from the rest of the squad by coach Frank Farina as a disciplinary measure, and after his first day back to regular training, Carle is understood to have been active in supporting squad solidarity.