Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy believes his pack can match any in the NRL but the addition of former Test prop Jason Ryles will be a huge plus.

Ryles made his Storm debut in their hard-fought 24-10 win over South Sydney on Friday night, coming off the bench.

Cut by the Sydney Roosters after a disappointing 2011 season, Ryles impressed his new coach making 25 tackles and Bellamy said he would only get better.

The 33-year-old’s training has been limited by a hamstring injury which forced him to miss their round one victory over Canberra.

“He’s probably a bit underdone game fitness-wise but I thought there were some real promising signs out there and probably the longer he went the better he got,” Bellamy said.

“He’s really taken on board the way we want him to defend and the things we want him to do in defence; I think he was pretty good at that.

“With a couple more games under his belt he’s going to be a huge plus for us.”

The Storm felt they were outmuscled by the physical Warriors in their NRL semi-final loss last year, and signed former NSW Origin players Ryles and second-rower Ryan Hoffman to give them some more size.

After holding their own against the huge Raiders pack they again measured up well against the Rabbitohs, who boast giant ball-runners Dave Taylor and Sam Burgess in their line-up.

Storm skipper Cameron Smith was streaks ahead of any other player on the ground at AAMI Park, racking up 54 tackles in the five tries to two victory, with Burgess next best with 41.

“The guys defended well against Burgess and Taylor, they’re guys who are hard to handle when they get a bit of steam up,” Bellamy said.

“I’d like to think our front-rowers are good quality.”