I remember seeing somewhere that Melbourne City was formed as part of a desire of the VFA to have a centrally based team (unfortunately I can't put my finger on the source). The team played its home games at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. It would seem that the lack of a local suburban supporter case stymied their ability to field a competitive team.
The VFA had occasional fantasies of becoming the leading competition again or at least the equal of the VFL. After the First World War, there was a movement in Geelong, encouraged by the VFA, for Geelong VFL to rejoin the VFA. When this failed, a 'Geelong Association' team was formed that was almost as inept as 'Melbourne City'.
The Association tried all sorts of innovations over the years to attract support away from the League. The League tended to sit back and watched to see what worked and what didn't and then copied the more successful innovations.