I think Mandi was a bit of a liability today, but it is forgiveable as he clearly is still recovering from injury. He struggled in Brisbane conditions more than others (or simply lacks fitness). The fact that Rudan preferred to play him ahead of Kopa was quite telling.
Burgess will likely be a better player this year than Burns. I like Burnsie but part of that is the sentiment for his excellent season before he went off to Tokyo. Also, I reckon Rudan is probably doing a "Ridenton" on Burgess, like Ernie did by recruiting Ridenton after leaving Phoenix. I think Rudan liked the potential of Burgess and decided to recruit him from the state league to Phoenix. While he has taken a bit of a punt on a promising player, he can also recruit him later to his next A-League club after Nix, assuming that Burgess progresses well at Wellington this and next year.