The All Blacks are expected to field a much-different looking team to play Wales than the one that narrowly defeated Japan - and a former player has had his say who should come in.
New Zealand will welcome back many of their stars to tackle the Welsh at Cardiff on Sunday, but will be without captain Sam Cane, Dane Coles and possibly Brodie Retallick.
The veteran lock was cited after he was sent off for a dangerous cleanout in the win at Tokyo, and will find out from the disciplinary committee on Tuesday if his tour is over.
Meanwhile, Cane suffered a double cheekbone fracture, with Coles going down in the warmups with a calf injury.
Neither will play any further part in the tour, with the All Blacks still to face Wales, Scotland and England in consecutive weeks.
Standout hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho will almost certainly start against Wales, with Scott Barrett, Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax also all coming into contention.
But for Muliaina, the solution to Cane's absence in the backrow is simple - Dalton Papalii.
Papalii came off the bench in their win over Japan, and made an incredible nine tackles in just 14 minutes, including a game-sealing turnover at the death.
"You put [Shannon] Frizell at loosie, Ardie comes back into play, and you put Papalii - that would be the obvious fix," Muliaina told Sky Sport's Breakdown.
"Give Frizell a bit more game time and the guys are right, they will revert back to the team that [played in the] Melbourne, Auckland test match.
"I think we've had real momentum with the young guys within the tight-five, de Groot will come in, Taukei'aho we know he's played really well and Lomax.
"The locks are interesting because Barrett, if Rettalick is going to be out, he's probably going to slot in there.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster will also be encouraged by second-five Anton Lienert-Brown's cameo off the bench.
His performance will give him a much-welcomed selection headache, with the likes of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Brayden Ennor, David Havili and Rieko Ioane all vying for a midfield spot.
Muliaina would like to see the return of regular combination Havili and Ioane for the Welsh test, with Beauden Barrett Lienert-Brown offering versatility from the bench.
"The talking point will be second-five and where Beauden plays," he said. "I would probably go backwards and put Beaudie on the bench with ALB, because I don't think you need to put ALB under that much pressure to go out there and start a test match.
"He's coming back and he played really well yesterday, but the makeup of where Beauden and him play - they cover a lot of positions.
"If you put Beauden out there at No.15, and move Jordie [Barrett] around, you're sort of opening yourself up to someone getting injured and not being able to cover it from the bench.
"So I think you revert back to that…I still think [Richie] Mo'unga needs to stay at No.10 to keep that consistency, so No.12 for me is going to be the big talking point.
"For me, the bench make-up would be [Finlay] Christie, ALB and Beauden Barrett and let Havili have another shot at second-five and put Jordie at the back."
