By Adem Barolli (@adembarolli)

After six winless games at the helm of the Goulburn Valley Suns, Melvyn Wilkes has been relieved of his duties as head coach and will focus solely on his role as the club’s technical director.

Defender Naum Sekulovski, the Suns’ most credentialed player, has agreed to replace Wilkes as a caretaker and will commence his player-coach role in his side’s trip to Werribee City on Sunday.

Sekulovski, who was surprised by the news of Wilkes stepping aside, has played at the highest level in Australian football, representing Perth Glory over 100 times in the Hyundai A-League.

The 31-year-old has also represented several clubs in some of the country’s best state leagues and his experience will be well sought-after from the fledgling club.

Goulburn Valley chairman Geoff Dobson told the Shepparton News the time was right to relieve Wilkes of his head coaching duties.

“We’ve recognised there is a lot of stress involved in taking on both the technical director and senior coaching roles and we don’t want to overload him,” Dobson said.

Wilkes also spoke about the decision and told the Shepparton News about his role and what it will entail.

“They (the club) want me to concentrate on the technical director role and oversee all elements of the football club including the seniors,” Wilkes said.

It still remains unknown as to who the Suns are after and when they will make an announcement on a full-time head coach.

The Suns sit at the bottom of the NPL table and have yet to register a single point in their first six games of the inaugural season.

It was always going to be a challenging year for the newly formed club, as the Suns were given roughly a month to establish themselves from ground up.

With no players or coaches on their roster just days before the start of the season, it has been an incredible effort by the board to have the senior and junior teams now up and running.

The Suns will be hoping to turn their fortunes around against Werribee City on Sunday, a side they played on Easter Sunday eve in Shepparton and lost to in a seven-goal thriller.

Image credit: Graeme Furlong