McClennan said Matulino's increased consistency had come from experience, and it was his performance late in Monday night's victory over Parramatta which earned him his player's player of the match award and probably kept Ta'ai on the interchange bench.
"I probably didn't give Ukuma enough time on the weekend. He'll probably get more minutes this week. I was pretty happy with what he did.''
With Packer trucking on in his usual no-nonsense manner, the forwards are in good shape but concerns remain around the Warriors' sluggish starts and their defence.
The Eels went out to an 8-0 lead early, and Manly the week before also got off to a flyer.
"We didn't get off to a good start and we realise we need to get into games quicker,'' McClennan said.
"It's just happened twice so you can't say it's a trend. It might be best I don't bore them to death in my pre-game speech.''
All jokes aside, the Warriors defence on the edges again caused concern, with wingers Bill Tupou and Manu Vatuvei caught out. Vatuvei in particular is vulnerable in this area, but McClennan said many factors were involved.
"We've looked at a bit of that this morning. We've got to improve there. The boys on the edge know that. We got stung early last week and early again on Monday night. There's a lot more to it than the average punter will see _ it's not one problem, there's a whole range of little things. I thought for periods we got it right.''
