So Few Wins Needed for Finals Spot

With five rounds remaining of the NRL before the finals begin (apart from tomorrow night's non-event between the Titans and the Eels), it once again appears that at least one of the teams that finishes inside the top eight will have lost more games than they have won in the regular season.

It is conceivable that three of those teams in the top eight will have less than a 50% win record and yet still get the opportunity to play finals football. I have a real problem with that. I just don't see that if you can't win a majority of your games over 26 rounds, that you should have the chance to win a premiership if you happen to win four finals in a row. And no, that hasn't happened yet, but Canterbury went close to doing it last year from seventh position, after having 13 wins from 24 matches. And no, it isn't a likely event in any case, but would you ever rule out a team such as Melbourne or Canterbury, currently 6th and 8th respectively, being able to do it?
There is no way of course that Channel 9 will allow the top 8 finals to change. It offers three extra finals matches than the old top five used to, which is all dollars and ratings they would be unwilling to lose. I guess the quality of the games will still be a deciding factor in the future, and the finals in the first week between 5 vs 8 and 6 vs 7 are generally the best of the first week.