Richmond stars Dustin Martin and Dion Prestia will be welcome additions as they look to regain their pressure mojo against Sydney.

The Tigers will host the Swans on Thursday night at the MCG after last week's 81-point mauling from Brisbane.

Martin missed the Gabba match because of illness and Prestia was out with a calf injury, while Jayden Short suffered a hamstring injury during the match

"The biggest thing that wasn't there last week was our pressure," interim coach Andrew McQualter said of the Lions loss.

"It's a really simple thing to come back to ... we were 18th in the comp last week for our pressure rating.

"You're not going to get the job done too often when that's the case, so we're hoping to ramp that up tomorrow night.

"We just got beaten around the ball, so certainly having two of our most experience, senior guys back in the fold is a great result for us."

McQualter said they remain unsure how long Short will be sidelined.

"It's a disappointing result in losing Shorty. He's a really valuable player for us," the Tigers coach said.

Richmond have also named Sam Banks and Jacob Bauer for their senior debuts.

Banks has been an emergency several times this season, while Bauer has kicked match-winning VFL goals twice in a month this year.

Sydney are 13th and Richmond hold 15th place on the ladder, with the two teams only two games outside the top eight.

But as fans start to look at their teams' late-season fixtures and calculate whether the finals are possible, McQualter is realistic.

"It's very easy to lift your eyes and start looking forward to too far ahead," he said.

"But the reality is ... last week, being 5-10 per cent off, that we just weren't able to compete at the level."