POWER assistant coach Jason Cripps believes Peter Burgoyne’s internal suspension has set the tone for the club and its leadership program.

Cripps refused to elaborate on the situation, except to confirm Burgoyne had turned up to a recovery session in an unfit manner to train, but said the adversity, which has confronted the team this season had posed the playing group with some tough challenges.

The decision to send Burgoyne back to the SANFL for a week was recommended by the club’s leadership group and endorsed by the coaching panel.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s player one on the list or player 40; if those standards aren’t met, regardless of what the situation is, they will be suspended,” Cripps said on Friday.

“Last year, we had the leadership model in place and we were winning a lot of games and made the grand final. Things probably went along really well and we didn’t have many issues to deal with.

“This year, we’ve had many, in terms of players’ form, injury and losing eight games by less than 17 points; there’s a lot of adversity there. How you actually deal with that will dictate whether you actually become a better team and club going forward.”

Burgoyne, 30, is out of contract at season’s end, but Cripps said the incident would not count as a cross next to the premiership player’s name for next year.

“You obviously take in a lot of factors when you’re doing your list management, both on and off the field. We certainly don’t look at any one particular incident, we look at the whole package,” he said.

“We look at what a player has to offer to the playing group on and off the field and the qualities they bring to the group as well.”