The Tigers lost 28-10 to Huddersfield Giants at The Jungle on Tuesday night, but took the chance to give 22 players a run out and were happy to report no new injuries, aside from a minor knock for prop Craig Huby.
All the players back after operations came through the game well, including scrum-half Brent Sherwin, back row men Joe Westerman and Brett Ferres and teenage back Richard Owen, who were all playing first games since September.
"It looks like we've come through injury free, which is the main thing, but we have some work to do," said Matterson.
"We had guys out there who hadn't played after operations and they'll be better for that,
"It was good to have Shifty out there again and Richie Owen as well after he had a major operation. And it was good to have Brett Ferres and Joe Westerman back as well. They all came through the match okay. Craig Huby's got a little bump, but he's fine, there's nothing too serious.
"It looked like we had ten new players out there like we did this time last year. We just weren't fluent at all, but we'll be better for that run. We'll get a lot out of the game and next game we'll be down to 17 players, instead of 22, that will help."