Luckless Richmond midfielder Mark Coughlan has suffered another setback as he bids to resume his injury-riddled AFL career.

Coughlan, who has undergone two knee reconstructions in the last three years, experienced soreness in his right knee over the last couple of days.

The Tigers' 2003 best and fairest winner has been ruled out of Sunday's pre-season Cup clash with Fremantle at Subiaco.

Coughlan has not played a senior match since round 12, 2006 when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament for the first time.

The ball-winning midfielder, who has been restricted to just 83 senior matches since his debut in 2001, will be further assessed by the Tigers' medical staff in the next few days.

Before the latest setback, the 26-year-old had impressed the Richmond coaching staff with his display in last Friday's intra-club match.

In addition to the two knee reconstructions, Coughlan also suffered chronic hamstring injuries in 2008, prompting the club to send him to Germany to be treated by soft-tissue specialist Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt.

Dr Muller-Wohlfahrt has also treated Geelong utility Max Rooke and two-time 400m hurdles world champion Jana Rawlinson.

Richmond football manager Ross Monaghan said although it did not appear to be a serious problem, the club was taking a cautious approach with Coughlan.

"Mark was just doing some light training and goal kicking this morning, just a little bit of twisting and turning, nothing unusual, and it turns out he's slightly damaged his cartilage," Monaghan told richmondfc.com.au on Tuesday.

"It's not severe - it's being checked out by a specialist either later on tonight or first thing in the morning.

"Probably the worst-case scenario would be an arthroscope and missing two or three weeks, I would guess.

"It's early stages, but it's nothing to do with the knee problems he's had in the past - there's no reconstruction required, nothing like that.

"So it's not a massive alarm bell, it's just a little bit of a setback for him."

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