So when the 2007 best and fairest ventured forward in the third quarter of Friday night's win against Essendon, you can imagine his surprise when he snagged the 10th goal of his 101-game career and the first since changing his surname from Harris.
"I thought I got a bit excited, must’ve had too much caffeine before the game," he laughed. "I suppose you can say it’s Lake’s first goal.
"I just saw the ball on the other side and the other wing was open. I thought it was a good opportunity to run David Hille out of position. I sprinted forward, took the grab and it happened.”
Lake has made a career of taking the opposition's key forward, so when news came through late on Thursday that Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd was injured – he slept a fair bit better than he usually would.
A solid night’s shuteye has been a treat since son Cohen Ashton was born in December.
"I usually play on Lloydy and I got the call last night that he wasn’t playing so I had a bit of an easier sleep, which I haven’t had in a while," Lake said after the game.
"It does take a bit of weight off your shoulders, you can play a different role and get the ball a bit more. You can play a bit more offensively because your forward isn’t as dangerous.
"You’ve still got to respect your opponents, they chopped and changed a bit more than they usually do because they didn’t have a tall forward. It’s all about adapting."
Lake said part of the Bulldogs’ early success was due to the extra hardness surrounding him in the backline.
"We’ve got Dale Morris and Cam Wight stepping up this year," he said. "Timmy Callan’s back there as well – he is a very hard player, a bull at the gate.
"He loves competing...he loves the tough stuff and that’s what we needed down back.
"We’ve still got Tom Williams and Andrejs Everitt to come back in, so it’s going to be hard for those guys to find a spot."
While pleased with his side’s early form, the 26-year-old says the Bulldogs have to work on producing a four quarter-effort, which hasn’t been the case in three of its four games so far.
The Bulldogs, 26 points up at quarter time, found themselves 10 points down at the final change after the Bombers outscored them in the second and third terms.
"Today we only played half the game - the first and fourth quarter," Lake said. "We can take the positives out of that but we’ve got to work out what went wrong in the second and third quarters."
