Ryles snubbed the Dragons this week in favour of his former role under Bellamy, where he won two premierships as his deputy between 2016 and 2020 before moving on to the Sydney Roosters.
Ryles appeared 156 times for the Dragons in a playing career spanning 13 years but finished his days at the Storm before moving into coaching.
"It was a bit of a surprise to be quite honest for Jason to be coming back, but we're very happy to have him back," Bellamy told AAP on the eve of their clash with North Queensland.
"He came to us at the latter end of his career as a player and had a couple of good seasons with us and then we put him on the coaching staff and he was really, really good.
"We realised when he moved on to the Roosters that was to further his career a little bit, a little bit more experience.
"We're really happy to have him back and I'm sure he'll do a good job for us."
The Storm currently sit fourth on the ladder tied with four other teams on 18 competition points coming off their second bye of the year into a clash with the Cowboys.
Bellamy's boys have dominated their counterparts winning 12 of their last 13 games against the men from the north, but it was North Queensland who prevailed 36-6 in their 2022 fixture in Townsville.
State of Origin stars Harry Grant and Cameron Munster are both expected to line up in Sunday's clash with Bellamy naming an unchanged 17 from their round-12 victory over the Dolphins.
North Queensland's Origin troops have also been named to play and a decision on Murray Taulagi (concussion) will be made after Saturday's captain's run.
Bellamy said regardless of the Cowboys' struggles in 2023 it's always a tough away trip to Townsville.
"They probably haven't had the year they would have wanted or expected after last year but they haven't played at home for a little while either," he said.
"We know they'll come out firing and it's always a tough game up here - it doesn't matter what both teams are doing.
"That's what we're expecting and I'm sure that's what we will get."
