The Lions are winless after four rounds, and with injuries to key trio Daniel Rich (season), Matthew Leuenberger (12 weeks) and Pearce Hanley (two weeks) are facing a bleak future.
Despite the poor outlook after back-to-back hidings from Gold Coast and Port Adelaide, Schwab said the Lions had a strong chance against the out-of-sorts Tigers, who have only won one match this season.
However he intimated the Lions – set to field an extremely young team - must stop being conservative with ball movement, and adhere to coach Justin Leppitsch's game-plan.
"It's a confidence thing with our game-plan," Schwab said.
"We've just got to take the game on regardless of the personnel and try and do what Justin's been coaching them throughout the summer.
"(We) try to tell the boys, just go for it, do the things we want you to do, there's no punishment for effort or trying to do it.
"Hopefully that'll create a difference this week."
Schwab said winning would still come down to the basics of efficient ball movement, good defensive set-ups and winning clearances.
"In the end it's up to the players when they're out here to take it on themselves, to just go for it.
"As a coaching group, I think we can win tomorrow night.
"I think the players deep down might have some doubts because they haven't won, but they know it's an opportunity for them."
Leppitsch was an assistant coach to Damien Hardwick for the past four years, and Schwab expects his intimate knowledge of the Tigers' players to be an advantage.
One of those players is midfielder Trent Cotchin, who was the subject of much scrutiny after last week's loss to Collingwood following the tight tagging of Brent Macaffer that limited him to just 13 touches.
Schwab said the Lions would be likely to try a similar tactic.
"I think the unfortunate thing for Trent is he's always going to be the number one player for Richmond's midfield that you look to, so he will get the attention," he said.
"He would expect that. Up the other end, (Jack) Riewoldt is the number one forward for them, so you try and stop Riewoldt. They're probably the two key players in Richmond's team at the moment."
Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting
