Even in retirement, two-time NRL premiership winner Matt Geyer cannot help but continue masterminding Melbourne Storm victories.

The Storm beat North Queensland 26-12 in Townsville on Saturday night, with the positional switch of two key playmakers largely credited for the impressive result.

Australia hooker Cameron Smith shifted to five-eighth, allowing Greg Inglis to start in the centres for a size mismatch on his opposite number Ben Farrar.

It proved a masterstroke, as Inglis caused the Cowboys right-side defence chaos all night and got the visitors off to a dream start with the opening try, a 90m special.

The 22-year-old also had a hand in a try to winger Anthony Quinn just before halftime to give the Storm an 18-12 lead heading into the break.

But as pleased as he was with the result, Bellamy - who had made a similar switch late in the game in the first two rounds - said he could not take all the credit.

"Matt Geyer gave me the idea, I must say," he said of the Storm's games-played record holder, now based on the Gold Coast.

"In the dressing sheds after the (Brisbane) Broncos game last week, he said it might work well if we actually start Cameron there instead of putting him there the last bit.

"I dont know whether it was real good for us or not, but if it was we can thank `Boof'."

Geyer, a former NSW representative, retired from rugby league after last season, ending 11 successful seasons playing for the Victorian club.

But while it worked against the Cowboys, Bellamy warned round four opponents Gold Coast against expecting a same plan of attack on Saturday night.

"We just thought it might work better for us up here in Townsville and against the Cowboys and it worked out like that, but well see what happens next week," he said.

"We might do it, we might not do it.

"We might do it at the start, we might do it in the middle or at the end, so we are just seeing how the game goes and how we think the game is going to go."

After being restricted to just 17 and 16 points respectively in their opening two games, the Storm were confident their much-maligned attack was starting to click.

Their four-tries-to-two triumph could have been more convincing, but for strong last-ditch defence from the Cowboys and some scratchy final-play execution.

Smith, who said he enjoyed his stints in the five-eighth role, was adamant the best was still to come from the reigning minor premiers.

"Overall the team was a lot more confident with the footy this week," Smith said.

"We knew where we were heading with the ball and ... playing our best game was probably no coincidence because we had our best week of training as well.

"If we can continue to build on what we did with the ball (against the Cowboys), as long as we can complete a bit better, I think were heading in the right direction."

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