THE AMERICAN basketballers have been renamed the ‘Redeem Team’ as they embark on their quest to avenge two disappointing Olympic campaigns and Port Adelaide star Shaun Burgoyne says his team will be taking a similar approach into the game against Collingwood this week.

The Power have copped some heavy criticism following last week’s disappointing 66-point loss to Carlton and stand-in skipper Burgoyne said the players would be out for redemption on Friday night.

“When you’re struggling, it tests everyone from the coaching staff to the players and everyone involved. We’re down the bottom, we’re losing and things are tough. When you’re down the bottom, cracks appear and you have to fix them,” Burgoyne said on Tuesday.

“It’s been fun captaining the side. Obviously, it would be better if we were winning, but that’s something we’re working on every week and this week, on Friday night, everyone’s got a chance to redeem themselves.”

Burgoyne, who has been handed the captaincy in the absence of skipper Warren Tredrea and vice-captains Chad Cornes and Brendon Lade, believed the players would learn a lot about each other during the trying period.

“It’s actually a very good learning experience to see how you treat certain situations and how to actually motivate the team, the players and how to get yourself off the ground and bounce back for next week’s game. We’ve got a five-day turnaround and we’ve got to bring our best this week against Collingwood,” he said.

“You find out what everyone’s made of when you come through these hard times and having the number of senior players we have out with Tredders, Chad and Steve Salopek, you find out what the younger players are about as well.

“Someone has got to take the older guys’ spot and we’ll definitely be better for it.

“We look forward to a long, hard pre-season and we’ll be back.”