The club appointed Kaitano Tembo as head coach in July last year, before later parting ways with the Zimbabwean on Christmas Day.
Vilakazi later took over as head coach to try and save the team from relegation.
Currently, Richards Bay are lying in 15th place on the log and could survive the dreaded drop if they win all their remaining games and 14th-placed Royal AM drop three points from their own two remaining matches.
"What I noticed when I arrived in the team was that the problem was psychological," noted Vilakazi.
"There are a lot of things that happened in the team that media and football lovers didn't notice.
"For the fact they lost their teammate on the field, I think it affected them so much. So, that is why they were struggling for too long because the problem was psychological," added the former striker.
Vilakazi said soon after arrival, having made a brief stop at Chippa United following his spell at Golden Arrows, he noticed a change in mood in the dressing room.
"I remember the first game when I was in charge and we won against SuperSport United, the hype [was there] and the players were motivated, and that was something that was missing.
"Some things cannot sorted overnight, so we still need to try to motivate them psychologically. One person asked me last time that maybe psychologists would have done well for the club had we organized things early in terms of dealing with that aspect."
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Richards Bay are set to travel to the Mother City to face Cape Town City in their next DStv Premiership match on Saturday, which is a six-pointer as Eric Tinkler's men are fighting to finish as high as fourth.
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