Been watching Flanders, role is OK getting a go on ball with the second group but he looks a bit out of sync which is hurting his game a bit.
In the space of the last five minutes of that second quarter there were a couple of things I noted in terms of Flanders connection with his nearby teammates:
1) A boundary throw on the wing where Witts tapped the ball straight down his throat and he snatched at the ball worried more about the tackle coming rather than keeping his focus on securing the ball and then absorbing the tackle whilst firing out a handball.
2) Another bit of play on the wing where he and Rowell were tracking the ball in a 2-on-1 contest and were probably out if Rowell could have picked up the ball cleanly, but instead Flanders got too close without putting on much of a shepherd so the Sydney player had a chance to put enough pressure on Rowell to get him to fumble the ball and from there it was forced out of bounds.
Overall conditions are pretty rough with it being still 25 degrees and 85% humidity (players on both sides are sweating buckets) and the quality of the opposition is also a factor obviously, but he's still sitting with the midfield group in the rooms so the role looks like it's still there.