RICHMOND has been dealt a massive blow ahead of Friday night's blockbuster against Geelong with star midfielder Dion Prestia ruled out with a fractured rib.

Prestia, who has battled hamstring and calf issues this season to play just nine games, suffered the injury in a big hit from Magpie Travis Varcoe in the second quarter of Saturday's win.

He played out the game under duress after the bruising bump.

MATCH PREVIEW Tigers v Cats

"He's got a fractured rib so it's unlikely he's going to play on Friday night," Richmond physical performance manager Peter Burge told the club's website.

"We'll give him the week and get him to the position where he's more pain free and more likely for next week against Gold Coast."

There were a few sore Tigers after the win over the Magpies, with Brandon Ellis nursing a corked quad that isn't expected to keep him from facing the Cats.

Alex Rance was another who was treated during Saturday's win; the key defender had a sore glute that also isn't expected to rule him out of Friday night.

With Prestia out, the Tigers will need to go to the VFL for a replacement with fellow premiership players Bachar Houli, Jack Graham or Dan Butler not ready to resume.

Houli remains a chance to play in the VFL on Saturday after getting two weeks of training under his belt after facing

"We're in a position now where we want to make sure that after every high intensity session he wakes up the next day and his groin pain is consistently good," Burge said.

"This week we're looking to play him some minutes probably through the VFL and we want him to pull up well and then we'll be in a better position next week to progress him back hopefully to the AFL.

"But the main goal with Bachar is to make sure we're in a position where he can perform at his best and pull up well from match play towards the end of the year because he's such an important player for our team."

Graham, who dislocated his shoulder against Adelaide in round 16, has started tackling drills and will ramp up to non-contact skills this week with an eye to full training next week.

A decision will be made then on whether he plays at some level in round 21, but it looks like Butler - who hurt his ankle in the same game - will be missing for a bit longer.

"He's been a little bit slower than what we expected, so we've got to progress his running with syndesmosis ankle sprains, which can be really tricky," Burge said.

"It's just progressing symptom-free and once he can do straight-line running flat out, then changing direction and agility before we throw him back into skills.

"He's probably a couple of weeks away still."

Reece Conca, who has been on the track in recent weeks, will ramp up his skill training this week, which could see him get some game time on the weekend of round 21.

Shai Bolton (knee) will miss this week after hurting himself at training last Thursday but isn't expected to be out any longer than that, while Tyson Stengle (ankle) didn't play after half-time in the VFL on Saturday but should pull up in time to be available this week.

But, Nathan Drummond has suffered a third reoccurrence of a hamstring injury this season with the Tigers to now investigate surgical options.

Mabior Chol (foot) and Oleg Markov (knee) are both aiming to be available late in the year for VFL finals.