"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing..."

Macbeth (IV, i, 14-15)

RICHMOND midfielder Mark Coughlan could be forgiven for thinking he is living a Shakespearean nightmare as he battles his body in an effort to get fit for AFL footy.

The 2003 Dyer Medallist had the debilitating groin complaint osteitis pubis, then a knee reconstruction. Then another. Now he's got hamstring issues that are so severe he's been sent off to Germany to be treated by the specialist who cured Geelong premiership player Max Rooke's hamstring: Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wolfhart.

Richmond medico Dr Greg Hickey said Coughlan, 26, would spend a couple of weeks in Germany while being treated.

"Mark had a recurrence of a hamstring injury on Wednesday, and after a fair bit of discussion, we've decided with Mark that certainly he was interested in pursuing all avenues, and it's culminated with him going to Germany, leaving yesterday," Hickey said.

"As you know [Dr Muller-Wolfhart] is the fellow that treated Max Rooke and a lot of very high-profile European and international sportsmen as well, for soft-tissue injuries of this type."

Some of the German doctor’s treatments are new and little understood, with the treatment being considered for Coughlan involving an injection of hylart, a mixture extracted from the fleshy crest on cockerels.

Hickey said Coughlan would not be abandoning conventional treatment despite the use of the unorthodox, with club rehabilitation and conditioning coach Warren Kofoed travelling with him.

"I gather it involves the comb of roosters, and things like that, so there's a few things that are out there and they're not necessarily proven scientifically,” he said.

“But there's a lot of people, like Rooke, that have done well, and whether or not it's got the scientific basis behind it yet, we want to give Mark every opportunity.

"And obviously, he's still going to be doing the routine things, and that's why Warren's there – he's going to be doing all the things that we would be doing with him anyway."