Coughlan hasn't played an AFL match since having a knee reconstruction after round 12 2006, and then another in 2007, but Wallace said he was pleased with his progress to date.
"He got through, so that was a pleasing factor," Wallace said at Tuesday's media conference. "There was no expectation on Mark. As a matter of fact, we didn't know whether we were going to play him at VFL reserve level just to get a game under his belt or VFL senior level.
"It was just the week that he came back there was only the senior game, so we just ran him around for two quarters of footy, and he got through, and he'll be ready to play again this week."
Wallace backed the 26-year-old West Australian to return to the form that saw him win the club's 2003 best and fairest award, despite the significant changes to the game in the time since he last played.
"I think the answer is yes, that he can, but it's not easy. As we've seen with Nathan Brown, it takes a long period of time, and it might take him 18 months of playing football to actually be able to get back to his very best.
"He may do it a lot quicker – that's always the unknown when you've had major injury. What we need from him is the continuity of being able to actually play six or eight week in a row, so he just gets confidence in his body again."
