With Warren out injured more responsibility was on Rogers and he delivered, having a hand in nearly all of the Tigers' six tries and scoring 11 points of his own.

Both sides were scrappy early but the Tigers began the better and got out to a 20-4 lead after half an hour and the Raiders struggled to come back from that despite an improvement in the second half.

The home side got within nine points at one stage but a try to Rogers approaching full-time sealed the result.

"He was great and he has been all year," Warren said of his number seven.

"He's a really good footballer and a really good bloke and an integral part of the side, we love having him here."

Missing the likes of Jeremy Smith, Chris Daley and Claude Gordon Jnr, Macquarie were always up against it but did produce one of their better performances of 2015.

While disappointed with his side's start, coach Guy Meredith said there was plenty to take away from the match.

"The good thing is that we were better," he said.

"We let ourselves down in the first half there, we were a bit back-to-front this week, a few mistakes in the first half but the second half was good, we were competing and we won the second half so that was encouraging.

Some poor defence on the Raiders' right edge saw Nyngan score three early tries through Jone Yacadrau and a double to Damien Smith.

Mason Williams had earlier crossed for the Raiders and they were still within reach at 14-4 but Nyngan's representative five-eighth Jacob Neill barged across to help extend the lead.

The Raiders finally started to hold on to the ball and Corey Cox got across the line but after Rogers slotted a field goal he brilliantly set up a try for winger Sam Simmons with a grubber to make the half-time score 25-10. Williams grabbed his second early in the second half following an Ash Widders grubber to make it 25-16 and that's how it stayed for the majority of the second half.

With eight minutes remaining Rogers burst through a hole and scored under the black dot while Macquarie scored a late consolation through Cox to make it 31-20.

The loss capped off a turbulent week for the Raiders with police investigating an off-field incident in the early hours of last Monday which left representative hooker Smith with injuries that have reportedly ended his season.

Despite that, Meredith felt his side was improving in the lead-up to next weekend's derby against Westside.

"We've had a few dramas, I think everyone is aware of that, and that will hurt us but this playing group that stuck together today will take a lot out of that game," he said.

NYNGAN TIGERS 31 (Damien Smith 2, Jone Yacadrau, Jacob Neill, Sam Simmons, Ryan Rogers tries; Rogers 3 conversions, 1 field goal) defeated DUBBO MACQUARIE 20 (Mason Williams 2, Corey Cox 2 tries; Cox, Craig McLean conversions)