Warren Gatland, the head coach, has already highlighted to the squad how they were bossed at the breakdown and had their pride dented as much as their bodies in allowing the All Blacks to walk over them in the close-quarter exchanges last weekend in Auckland.
There is little doubt that Lawes fits the bill if the Lions want attitude in their play, a sense of aggression and drive in all that they do.
Lawes himself admits that he used to focus too much on show-pony antics, concentrating on the big-hit tackle rather than applying himself to the nitty-gritty in every aspect of the game.
The Lions had no one at Eden Park who came remotely close to matching the output of All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick.
Lawes, as well as Maro Itoje, has potential to be that all-court player.
But time is almost run on this trip. Lawes acknowledges that, energised by the fact that Gatland was true to his word last week in keeping an open mind on selection and promoting Elliot Daly as well as Liam Williams from the midweek side who did so well in beating the Chiefs in Hamilton.
"Gats has always said we have a chance to impress and that the test team will change from week to week," Lawes said.
"He has told us all to keep our heads on and keep on putting in performances. I felt I was doing all right until I got knocked out. I'm back on track now. I don't think you get to this level without having a certain level of physicality. That is an area of my game that is up there.
"You need to understand what is coming at you and that was something we hadn't seen before.
"It was a clever strategy of the All Blacks to use. Just running off nine means we can't get any line speed.
"If you don't win those first couple of contacts you're always going to be struggling, especially with them only putting in one or two into the ruck and getting quick ball off it. We need to really target first and second phase to stop that momentum."
