It was a loss to Tonga in their final pool game of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup that prevented Italy from progressing to the knockout stages, a loss that has stuck with both Minichiello and coach Cameron Ciraldo, who was a member of the playing group four years ago.

Along with Minichiello, the likes of James Tedesco and Paul Vaughan played in that 16-0 loss to Tonga in 2013 but return to the Italian national team vastly improved players and with the addition of Eels forwards Nathan Brown and Daniel Alvaro to bolster the forward pack.

Italy begin their quest for a quarter-final berth against Ireland in Cairns on Sunday and Minichiello is adamant they can advance to the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time.

"We knew we were good enough to go on and play in a quarter-final that year," said Minichiello, who has played the past three seasons with Hull FC in the English Super League.

"Our last game we didn't play well enough to win that and I thought we had the side that probably should have gone on.

"We started really well in that comp. We beat England in a trial and we beat Wales quite well and then drew against Scotland in tough conditions and then we got beat by Tonga in that last game.

"But that was four years ago. We've learnt from that now. We had a decent campaign over there but we had a lot of fun too so this year we're going to make sure we put our best foot forward on the field.

With players drawn from the NRL, Super League, Italy's own Serie A competition and the Intrust Super competitions in both New South Wales and Queensland, Ciraldo's first task is to bring his team together.

This article first appeared on NRL.com

By Tony Webeck | @TonyWebeck
Chief Queensland Correspondent‌‌, ‌‌‌NRL.com