Melas last night officially handed the reins over to his premiership teammate and Olympic great, comfortable in the knowledge that the 41-year-old would bring a new spark to the club.
"A new voice and direction is going to be good for the club," the premiership-winning coach and player said.
"I've got all the respect in the world for Steve as a coach, player and person.
"This is a guy who was my under-18 captain and who I played a lot of soccer with after that."
Lolias, who has honed his coaching skills with St Marys NTFL reserves over the past three years, returns to the premiership soccer ranks after a decade.
His last appointment was alongside Joe Gallagher at the turn of the Millennium. Since then he has focused on juniors, most recently leading the under-19 NT schoolboys team at the Australian Championships in 2007.
With Melas vacating and leaving an exciting young squad behind, Lolias felt the timing was right.
"I just feel fresh, I've been away from coaching soccer for a few years now," Lolias said.
"I'm not going to try to re-invent the wheel, I think Michael did a great job with boys and developed some great talent.
"Guys like Pauly Grant, Jake Toogood, Matt Hajdic and Edson Dos Reis were with Michael for four years, now I'll be hoping they can step up for me."
Lolias will juggle his NTFL duties and Olympic pre-season training for the next two months.
"I'll be busy, but that's OK," he said.
The Reds first training session of the year kicks off at 5.30pm at Tiwi Oval on Monday.
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