RICHMOND has ruled out premiership midfielder Dion Prestia for Friday night’s crunch clash against Geelong after scans revealed he suffered a fractured rib on the weekend.

Prestia was involved in a heavy collision with Collingwood’s Travis Varcoe during the second term of the Tigers’ win over the Magpies on Saturday.

The on-baller played out the game to finish with 21 disposals but was in clear discomfort during the club’s post-match celebrations.

Richmond's Dion Prestia gets cleaned up by Collingwood's Travis Varcoe. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

Finals Week 1

Prestia after getting cleaned up by Varcoe. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

Foxfooty.com.au understands Prestia limped in for X-rays at Richmond’s Epworth hospital on Saturday night just hours after the game.

Further scans on Monday confirmed that Prestia would miss the crunch clash against the Cats at the MCG.

“We’ll just give him the week and get him to a position where’s he’s more pain free and more likely for next week (Round 21) against Gold Coast,” Richmond’s Physical Performance Manager Peter Burge told the club’s website.

Prestia has played just nine games this season due to injury. He missed the first three games following a hamstring injury and slight glute complaint, before missing another six matches due to a calf injury.

Dion Prestia after the Travis Varcoe bump. Source: AAP

Burge was positive around the progress of Bachar Houli, who’s missed the past couple of weeks due to a groin injury.

But Houli is more likely to return through the VFL this week.

“We want to make sure now that after every high-intensity session his groin pain is consistently good. This week, we’re looking to play him some minutes, probably through the VFL,” Burge said.

“What we want out of that game is for him to pull up well, and then we’ll be in a better position next week, hopefully, to progress him back to the AFL level.

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“The main goal, though, with Bachar is to make sure he can perform at his best and pull up well from match play towards the end of the year.”

Reece Conca (ankle) and Jack Graham (shoulder) are more likely to return to the field next week, while Dan Butler (ankle) has only just started running and “probably a couple of weeks away still”.