===Melbourne professional===
Coulthard began his cricket career at the Carlton Cricket Club. For the 1877–78 season, he transferred to the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), which took him on as a professional ground bowler (a job that involved bowling to members in the nets). In 1878–79, he went in as a substitute for a Victorian XV during a match against the first representative Australian team, and batted in the lower order for the MCC when it hosted New Zealand's visiting Canterbury XI.