I never think a team that charges money for people to watch it should ever put out less than its best effort. Not wanting to win games approaches Declan Hill territory in some respects. Even if you don't go that far in your own thought process, I would think that success would be good for this team and they shouldn't piss away opportunities to achieve degrees of it along the way. That's just my opinion though. Others have reasonable and opposite views based on roster management and that's fine.
As for whether it's a bad thing, I suppose it is a question of how you would build a team.
Finishing further down the table under a long term view isn't a bad thing. That means higher draft picks.
But rather than fight the wind that blows out MLSE's arse, I should just admit that it clearly isn't a long term view from the top. It's short term based on what they say and who the sign. And short term they don't want to finish further down the table. They want to achieve a mid table result so losing in the CCL helps that view. I may not agree with it but that is the goal. So, I'll hoist the flag and set my expectations accordingly.
I would say that as a group, you really shouldn't settle for making the playoffs next year. The Cup needs to be the goal and expectation given the age of the key players in this roster… and the ticket prices you'll be paying soon.