And he hasn't given up hope of key forward Tom Lynch returning from a broken foot late in the season to boost the Tigers' chances of getting there.
The door remains ajar for Richmond, who sit six points outside the top eight ahead of a crunch clash with fellow finals aspirants Fremantle on Saturday night.
"We live in the space where we want to win every game of football we compete in," McQualter told reporters on Thursday.
"We're not sitting here talking about finals every day but we understand that's where we want to be and where we want to get to.
"We've got a really driven bunch of players and our leaders have been awesome.
"We understand we can be really competitive when we're playing our best footy so we're looking to do that week by week."
Co-captain Dylan Grimes looks set to play against the Dockers at Optus Stadium despite a shoulder knock, while fellow defender Nick Vlastuin is poised to return after missing two games with a corked leg.
Both completed Thursday's main training session at Punt Rd as Jacob Hopper ran laps, eyeing a comeback from his calf injury after the round-15 bye.
Lynch remains sidelined indefinitely, two months after breaking his foot in a loss to the Western Bulldogs.
It was initially thought to be a three-month injury and McQualter dismissed reports the Tigers were ready to put last year's best-and-fairest winner on ice for the rest of the season.
"Certainly we'll aim to (get him back this season)," McQualter said.
"It's still a fair way away and it's a pretty long-term injury, so it's a little bit hard to judge when exactly.
"But as we get closer we'll be pushing him to play whenever he's available."
Maurice Rioli Jnr will return from his hamstring injury in the VFL this week, missing out on older nephew Daniel Rioli's 150th game.
Rioli and fellow premiership star Liam Baker (100 games) will both celebrate milestones against Fremantle.
"They've been great players for us for a long period of time and both of them have been so flexible," McQualter said.
"Daniel Rioli played his first six years as a small forward, had some success there, then he's gone down back and provided our team with a different spark.
"And Bakes is one of our courageous leaders for a reason. He's a tough little bugger."
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