The Dragons remain eighth with two rounds to play, but must now win their final two matches against Parramatta and Canberra to wrap up a finals spot.
If they lose either of those games, Brisbane, the Dolphins and Newcastle all appear ready to take eighth spot with a far superior for-and-against.
The Dolphins play the Broncos and Knights in the final two rounds, while Newcastle have Gold Coast, and Brisbane will face Melbourne in the other key matches.
Dragons coach Flanagan insisted after Sunday's 38-10 loss that his side had no reason to be fazed, despite showing fatigue late in Wollongong.
"We've just got to win," Flanagan said.
"It's not a bit to do. We've shown we can beat good sides.
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan is not too fazed despite his side's loss to the Sharks. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS)
"We were off tonight, it's no excuse. I am the first one to put my hand up to say we weren't good enough.
"But we need to battle on. It's a long season. There are two rounds to go and we just have to make sure we win those two games."
The concern for the Dragons will be the fact they have battled to string together performances this year.
If they play anything like they did against Gold Coast last week or Melbourne earlier this month, they should qualify easily.
But even Dragons players know that is far from guaranteed, after they were simply too ill-disciplined early on Sunday and had their defence fold late.Â
"The big concern for me is why can't we do what we did last week consistently," captain Ben Hunt said.
"It's one week on, one week off.
"We need to win to put ourselves into the finals, so we need to sort it out."
At the other end of the top eight, Penrith are now facing the prospect of having to travel to Melbourne in the first week of the finals after finishing the round in fourth.
Their inferior for-and-against also leaves them at risk of dropping out of the top four if they were to be upset by South Sydney or Gold Coast and Canterbury win through.
The Bulldogs have Manly and North Queensland in the final two rounds, meaning there is every possibility they could finish in the top four or go as low as seventh and miss out on a home final altogether.
RUN HOME FOR NRL FINALS CONTENDERS
1. MELBOURNE (42 points, +213) - North Queensland (away), Brisbane (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 1st
2. SYDNEY ROOSTERS (36, +269) - Canberra (h), South Sydney (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 2nd-6th
3. CRONULLA (36, +204) - Warriors (h), Manly (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 2nd-6th
4. PENRITH (36, +158) - South Sydney (h), Gold Coast (h). Highest/lowest possible position: 2nd-6th
5. CANTERBURY (34, +146) - Manly (h), North Queensland (h). Highest/lowest possible position: 2nd-7th
6 NORTH QUEENSLAND (32, +43) - Melbourne (h), Canterbury (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 2nd-8th
7. MANLY (31, +121) - Canterbury (a), Cronulla (h). Highest/lowest possible position: 5th-8th
8. ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA (28, -120) - Parramatta (a), Canberra (h). Highest/lowest possible position: 6th-12th
9. BRISBANE (26, +2) - Dolphins (a), Melbourne (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 8th-13th
10. DOLPHINS (26, -27) - Brisbane (h), Newcastle (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 8th-13th
11. NEWCASTLE (26, -70) Gold Coast (h), Dolphins (h). Highest/lowest possible position: 8th-13th
12. CANBERRA (26, -131) - Sydney Roosters (a), St George Illawarra (a). Highest/lowest possible position: 8th-13th
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