Carngham-Linton, Rokewood-Corindhap, Skipton and Smythesdale have done it tough since they joined the Central Highlands league prior to the 2011 season.
In fact, none of them have made the senior footy finals in their five completed campaigns in the competition.
But the clubs, which were previously members of the now-defunct Lexton Plains league, have dug deep to find a positive amid the struggle.
They have done this by imagining their own league within a league.
"It's hard to compete against the big boys like Hepburn, Bungaree and Springbank," said Rokewood-Corindhap president Adam Walton. "So we put a lot of energy into beating our old arch-enemies.
"It has become a bit of a battle to see which of our clubs finishes highest on the ladder at the end of the season."
Carngham-Linton took the honours in 2011 and 2014, while Skipton finished highest in 2012 and 2013.Last year Rokewood-Corindhap won bragging rights.
In a sign of the times, however, the Grasshoppers saluted after winning just three games, each of them against their old rivals from the Lexton Plains league.
Skipton and Carngham-Linton both won two games last season, while Smythesdale went winless for the fourth straight year.
"It has been hard for all of us at different times," Walton said.
The immense gap between those at the top and bottom of the Central Highlands league, which has 18 clubs, has led to a number of discussions about whether the competition should be split in two.
The people behind Carngham-Linton have twice called for the league to be split along geographic lines, but the proposals have failed to draw much support.
"Once you do that, there's that perception that one division is better than the other," Walton said. "Then it probably becomes harder to get players to play for clubs in the division that is perceived to be lower."
Rather than push for splitting the Central Highlands league, Walton is putting his faith in the player points system being introduced across the state by AFL Victoria.
Not that he expects the system to be some kind of cure-all.
"You look at the AFL, where there are all sorts of equalisation policies in place, and St Kilda hasn't won a flag for 50 years," he said.
"So I'm not sure we're ever going to get an ideal scenario in country footy.
"But the points system, combined with some type of salary cap, is a good thing to try."
One thing that splitting the competition would do is enable the old Lexton Plains league clubs to play each other twice.
At present, the Central Highlands league has a 17-round home and away season, with each club playing the others once, and this has proven financially troublesome for the likes of Rokewood-Corindhap.
"We get our largest gates when we play Skipton, Carngham-Linton and Smythesdale," Walton said.
"Those old rivalries are still well and truly alive.
"But when we play against clubs like Bungaree or Daylesford or Hepburn, there's not that rivalry and their people don't seem to come out our way in big numbers."
Indeed, a very healthy crowd gathered at the Skipton Recreation Reserve last weekend to see the Emus take on Rokewood-Corindhap.
"To get a crowd like this is fantastic," Walton said as he gazed around the oval.
Skipton comprehensively took the honours in the under-18 game, before the Grasshoppers turned the tables in similar fashion in the reserves.
People then crowded along the boundary line sipping from beer cans and takeaway coffee cups (one of Rokewood-Corindhap's sponsors is a mobile coffee van) as the senior game played out.
In its third season under the guidance of five-time North Ballarat premiership player Michael Hynes, Rokewood-Corindhap entered the match as a warm favourite after securing a number of recruits over the summer.
But Skipton, which counts former Richmond player and coach John Northey among its mentors, was a point up at half-time.
At that stage the Emus had been let off the hook by some terrible kicking at goal from their opponents.
The Rokewood-Corindhap supporters were on the verge of retreating to the bar and staying there when their team's continued poor kicking resulted in a score of 2.15 halfway through the third quarter.
However, Hynes' men finally found their verve and ended up winning by 35 points, 12.21 (93) to 8.10 (58).
The Grasshoppers, who played Waubra on Saturday, have now set their sights on becoming the first former Lexton Plains club to make the finals in the Central Highlands league.
"It would be awesome to do that," Walton said. "When we first came into this league a few people were calling us 'Jokewood' instead of Rokewood.
"So we think it would stir a few people up if we made the finals. It would be fantastic."
CENTRAL HIGHLANDS BATTLERS
* Of the former Lexton Plains league clubs, Skipton came closest to making the finals when it finished 10th in 2013
* The worst-performed of the clubs in question, Smythesdale, hasn't won a senior game since 2011
By Adam McNicol