Four of the AFL’s new breed of hopefuls got a stern wake-up call this weekend, with their recent philosophy of daring to dream being rudely interrupted by a series of blaring alarm clocks.

Melbourne and Richmond have had relatively similar trajectories in the last few decades, and would be highly-placed on everybody’s underdog list.

Fremantle and the Gold Coast are more recent additions, but the Dockers’ short history doesn’t make great reading, while the Suns look to have some tough times ahead of them.

Both the Victorian sides have spent most of their time in the bottom half of the ladder in the past 30 years, neither having experienced the upsurge that is supposed to be inevitable in the socialist structure of salary-capped, draft-picked football.

Melbourne hasn’t won a flag since 1964. Their more recent chances, in 1988 and 2000, were against teams they never had a prayer of beating.

Richmond have barely touched the finals since their last triumph in 1980, a side that have made ninth spot on the ladder their own.

In between those rare finals chances, both have displayed a kind of charming haplessness that made you want to give them a hug when they fell arse-backwards into yet another loss.

And both have had the kind of players that even neutral fans found lovable. Richmond with the boom-bust ridiculousness of Matthew Richardson, the tough Kellaway brothers, Darren Gaspar’s class, or the star-crossed career of Nathan Brown.

Melbourne had the bullocking of David Schwarz, the immigrant-made-good story of Jim Stynes, the great Mystery Brownlow winner in Shane Woewodin, and of course the nine-goals-in-the-second-half magic of The Wiz, Jeff Farmer.

So it’s no surprise that crowds have been right behind them in 2011, as both clubs have shown signs of revival.

Richmond have shown a grit and fight not recently associated with them through the first nine rounds, clocking up four wins and a draw. Melbourne had fought out three wins and a draw, with one bye.

Freo have also been up and about, and are looking to shake their tag as perennial underachievers. Historical comparisons with their fellow non-Victorians aren’t flattering.

West Coast won two flags within its first eight seasons. Adelaide did the same, and did it back to back. Brisbane then won three in a row, Port Adelaide got one premiership and a grand final loss, Sydney grabbed one and West Coast a third.

Freo, comparatively, has not much to show: seventeen seasons for three finals appearances, all of which have seen the Dockers knocked out before the preliminaries [except for that time they weren't - Ed].

This is despite the general strength of their list over most of these seasons.

But their first eight matches of 2011 yielded five wins and some narrow losses, on the back of a confident, attractive brand of football.

All three of these sides went into round 10 with a decent slab of confidence. Freo had the Saints at home in Perth, and would have been keen to assert their establishment of a new dynasty on the bones of a team that time has passed by.

Melbourne had a rare Friday night footy spot and a date with Carlton, a fellow struggler of recent years starting to make good.

Richmond were playing an ‘away’ game in Darwin against Port Adelaide, a 2011 easy beat, in conditions as unfamiliar for the supposed home side as for the visitors.

And that’s not to mention the Gold Coast Suns. They’ve had a hapless season, but after a long week of intensive build-up around defecting captain Gary Ablett’s first match against his Geelong premiership teammates, the Suns were fired up.

They showed it in the first quarter, jumping all over the Cats to pile on four straight goals, and rush to a 20-point half-time lead. They then resisted a Cats comeback to lead by 11 at the main break.

You could almost hear the ‘dare to dream’ theme music looping in the players’ heads.

But that’s as good as it got. After the break they were gradually and deliberately steamrollered by the men from Kardinia, who stacked on eight goals to one in the third quarter despite never looking in full control of their disposals.

The Suns’ moment of hope was crushed. And so it proved for the other improving contenders too.

Freo was smashed off the park in the first half by a St Kilda team who apparently don’t agree that their time is over.

The Dockers managed one goal in the first half, and were down by 45 points. They lost by almost the same margin.

Melbourne was easily disposed of by 47 points, in an oddly flat game at the MCG that even the players didn’t look that excited by. When it isn’t full, the G can be a graveyard for atmosphere.

And Richmond went tropical to lose by two and a half goals to Port, a side that had even contrived to lose to the Gold Coast a few weeks ago.

Suddenly all four of the new-season hopefuls had had the wind knocked out of them.

Of course it’s not surprising. This is the lot of clubs on the improve. It’s always going to be a step-by-step process. Some of those steps will be forward, a lot will be backward too.

And losing key players to injury and suspension makes much more difference to emerging clubs than it would to their higher-ranked opponents.

Still, it’s a good reality check for fans and bandwagon-jumpers. There’s plenty of work and patience that needs investing from here to see these underdogs really challenge.

For now, though, all three remain in contention. Gold Coast won’t threaten this year, but they’re still only one win off twelfth spot, and three wins off seventh.

Melbourne’s loss may mean they have three wins from nine games, but their drawn match plus the poor form of other low-ranked teams means they’re still in tenth spot, six points from the eight.

Freo have clung onto eighth, despite the loss and despite having a negative percentage. A win next week could take them up to fourth or fifth.

And where does the Darwin disappointment leave Richmond? Ninth, of course.