  We present the results of a search for associated 21 cm HI absorption at
redshift 0.42 < z < 1.00 in radio-loud galaxies from three Galaxy And Mass
Assembly (GAMA) survey fields. These observations were carried out as part of a
pilot survey for the ASKAP First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH). From a
sample of 326 radio sources with 855.5 MHz peak flux density above 10 mJy we
detected two associated HI absorption systems, in SDSS J090331+010847 at z=
0.522 and SDSS J113622+004852 at z= 0.563. Both galaxies are massive (stellar
mass > 10$^{11}$ M$_{sun}$) and have optical spectra characteristic of luminous
red galaxies,though SED fitting implies that SDSS J113622+004852 contains a
dust-obscured starburst with SFR ~ 69 M$_{sun}$ yr$^{-1}$. The HI absorption
lines have a high optical depth, with $\tau_{pk}$ of 1.77 $\pm$ 0.16 for SDSS
J090331+010847 (the highest value for any z > 0.1 associated system found to
date) and 0.14 $\pm$ 0.01 for SDSS J113622+004852. In the redshift range probed
by our ASKAP observations, the detection rate for associated HI absorption
lines (with $\tau_{pk}$ > 0.1 and at least 3$\sigma$ significance) is 2.9 (+9.7
-2.6) percent. Although the current sample is small, this rate is consistent
with a trend seen in other studies for a lower detection rate of associated 21
cm HI absorption systems at higher redshift. We also searched for OH absorption
lines at 0.67 < z < 1.34, but no detection was made in the 145 radio sources
searched.
