I could care less how many runners the regional finals get - in terms of making it harder for the competition. Of course I want more - bigger is better, and bigger numbers means regional finals for the next few years. Who would honestly want a smaller field?
I mean, I can guess why operations let more players in, of course. I just don't agree with players with less than 15 games being let in. Many players worked hard through the season to play 15 games (hell we made the trip to Kapunda for Shreky) and I've heard MANY stories of players missing social events so they can hit 15 games. We were told through the season that to qualify for the regional final, you needed 15 games.
You want to change the entry process for this season? Fine. 10 games, a certain number of points? Whatever, you're free to do so. Its just not fair to the players that worked hard last season, to hit 15 games, knowing (now) that if they hadn't put in the effort, they probably still would've qualified anyway.
If something like this was always going to be implemented (and I have trouble seeing that it wasn't) the least you could have done was let everyone know.
"Hey, we're letting in everyone to the regional finals!" Course, then nobody would try to get their 15 games up. I see your line of thinking

It just diminishes the qualification process a tad, that's all.