In what was a dream farewell for departing Tiger Sandun Welisara, the winger-turned-forward booted four goals as his side scored a 13-9-87 to 7-10-52 win at a warm South Dubbo Oval.

The Tigers came flying out of the blocks, Perth-bound Welisara had three goals himself in the first quarter, and while the Demons rallied in the second half some wayward shots at goal saw them suffer a home defeat.

"A little bit of scoreboard pressure would have put more pressure on the Tigers," coach Shayne Wilesmith said post-game.

"We were terrible in front of goal but that's the way footy goes.

The Demons were missing 11 players due to work commitments or injury, including 2019 skipper and leading goal-scorer Bevan Charlton-White, but Wilesmith said that wasn't an excuse for the first-half lapse.

"Our transition defence was very average to start off with and is something we need to work on and will work on," he said.

"We had a few defensive lapses and weren't accountable, we turned it over and they scored, scored, scored."

Welisara was one of the players who scored over and over, and Tigers coach Dale Hunter said he "couldn't have been happier for a better bloke to jump out of the blocks like that".

"He was up and about early and a guy who's so popular amongst the group, playing his last game you know the rest of the team's going to lift," Hunter said.

"That shows volume about the respect this guy's earned over the years."

Dubbo emerged after half-time 29 points down at South Dubbo Oval but with fire in their belly, gaining the balance in the midfield and stemming the Tigers' flow of forward 50 entries.

Inaccuracy in front of the sticks meant the Demons could only add one goal to their half-time total of four, but they kept the Tigers to just two points in the final term while having five shots of their own as they ran over the top of the reining premiers in the last 25 minutes.

Josh Anasis becoming busy in the forward line, Joe Hedger getting busy in the midfield and Harley Bye rebounding strongly from defence to propel the Demons forward and keep the pressure on the Tigers, with Michael Daly going to Welisara and shutting him down in the second half.

Hunter said a mix of positional changes and giving less experienced players a run in different spots on the field contributed to the Tigers' last-quarter fade, but said the Demons also lifted.

"Dubbo being a proud team played the game out. They finished strongly and they would have wanted to finish that way," Hunter said.

The half-time turnaround from the Demons, while ultimately not enough, came down to one simple thing - effort.

"We spoke about effort," Wilsesmith said.

"It's the individual things people do which roll up into a team effort and we were too worried about being accountable in defence," he said.

"We've got blokes in the forward line who can kick goals but we got in each other's way. In the games where we've lost, that's where it's let us down."

"We'll have a lapse of 10 minutes and they kick three or four goals. To arrest that momentum back takes so much effort."

The Demons host Parkes next weekend.