Hurricanes lock Jason Eaton is determined to make amends for his off-field indiscretions on the pitch on Saturday when the Lions visit Wellington.

Eaton is expected to be recalled to the Hurricanes second row after serving a one-match ban for breaking team protocol and has promised to be in barnstorming form at Westpac Stadium.

Coach Colin Cooper is unlikely to make wholesale changes to his unbeaten team but Eaton, who featured strongly in team training this week, is likely to be given a chance to repay his team for his indiscretions.

"Obviously I made a mistake a few weeks back," Eaton told The Dominion Post.

"It's been dealt with and hopefully its all in the past. I've moved on and I'm looking forward to this upcoming game against the Lions," Eaton said.

"I made a mistake and I've been duly punished. It's never easy to sit on the sidelines and see someone else playing in your spot. That's in the past though and I'm looking forward to this week."

Eaton wasn't revealing details of what is understood to have been a verbal run-in with a barman, but said he regretted the incident.

"I've learnt from what I've done and I certainly won't be doing that sort of behaviour again and make sure I do everything off the field right," he said.

"It wasn't easy on me and the headlines were embarrassing, but that comes with the nature of being a professional rugby player I suppose with the things you can and can't do off the field.

"That's life. I got punished for what I did. That's the team's and the management's decision, so I just have to move on and grow from it."

On form, Eaton should return in the second row, though Cooper has strong options with Bryn Evans and James Broadhurst both sound in the win over the Force.

Rodney So'oialo may be in line for his first start of the season at number eight, possibly with Karl Lowe given his first start of the season at openside, while it's hard to see Michael Paterson moved from blindside after his strong performances to date.

Willie Ripia appears set to continue to start ahead of young star Aaron Cruden who missed training on Tuesday for personal reasons, but will rejoin the squad on Wednesday.

Cooper admits he is keen to have as many of his squad involved as possible in the opening rounds of the Super 14, but does not want to jeopardise the strong start to the season.

"It's important we keep our focus on the Lions because they're a big threat as I said and we are not thinking about South Africa. For the senior players it's important to drive that team focus," he said.