Dubbo Demons defeated by Bathurst Giants in last round upset

Newly crowned coach and long-time player Mick Daly says his side will have to work twice as hard, but are already looking to improve ahead of a looming rematch with the Bathurst Giants.

"Everyone was a bit flat, we're still in the finals which is good just now we've got to turn our focus to adjusting in some areas we knew we got beat in on the day," Daly said.

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The Giants ran out 12-10-82 to 7-8-50 victors in the weekend's all important final round and in the process managed to secure their first ever victory on the road in Dubbo.

While the Demons started strong, a late fade was compounded by an injury-spurred collapse in the middle to seal their fate, and lock in this year's semi-final round at George Park next weekend.

"Structurally, we didn't match up right, so that's something we'll need to look at before the next game," Daly said.

"The desire and heart was there, but we let a few goals sneak in at the end and I think we'd kind of mentally shut down a bit, which isn't ideal, even when they're six goals up with five minutes to go or whatever it was."

The Demons will be boosted ahead of that all important semi-final, with Warren Stafford and Bevan Charlton-White both unavailable for the most recent clash.

"Having them back is going to be a big help, it'll help us a lot with our flexibility and we'll get some rotation through the mid-field that we really lacked," Daly said.

"We were on top in the first quarter and we won the battle there early, but after that, we weren't getting many clearances and it's always hard to win those games where you can't get out of the middle."

"In the second quarter, we had a few injuries in a row which put us into a bit of a spin on the bench, nothing game ending, but structurally we took a big hit with everyone having to come and get assessed very quickly."

One strong look for the Demons is that in their last outing in Bathurst they've been able to put together much stronger, more tail-heavy performances.

"A few weeks ago when we played Bathurst on their ground were down a bit over six goals going into the fourth and we kicked six back and comprehensively beat them in that fourth quarter last time," Daly said.

"We've shown we can beat sides like the Bushrangers in the third quarter or the second half, we know it's a four quarter game of footy, we've just got to put together that performance."

The Giants and Demons will meet again this coming Saturday, at 2.30pm in George Park.