Australia's men's and women's hockey teams have suffered slender defeats to Belgium at the FIH Pro League.
The men's Kookaburras were downed in a penalty shootout on Sunday - an identical result to their gold-medal game against the Belgians at the Tokyo Olympics of 2021.
After scores were locked 4-4 at fulltime in the latest clash of the fierce rivals, Belgium triumphed on home soil in Antwerp, winning 3-2 on penalties.
"I'm not a big fan of fan of the shootout," said Jake Whetton, one of Australia's scorers in regulation time.
"Obviously the outcome at the end of the game was one that we'll look back at with a bit of disappointment.
"It's clear that when we play at our best it's quite hard to stop and I think they found it hard to stop.
"We just have to clean up a few things to not let them back in the game and go from there.
"They're a quality team, as are we.
"It's nice to get a little bit of vision of them ... we know we have to play them in a few months time (at the Olympics)."
Compounding the disappointment, the Kookaburras - after goals from Blake Govers, Whetton, Nathan Ephraums and Lachlan Sharp - led 4-3 with just two minutes remaining before the Belgians equalised.
In the women's fixture, Belgium pipped the Australians 2-1.
Alice Arnott scored in the 17th minute for the Hockeyroos, who then conceded twice.
"We've had a few disappointments," Arnott said.
"But we're showing we're taking the learnings from them and I think we're building well ... hopefully we can get a few more wins on the board and increase our confidence before we go into Paris (Olympics)."
Australia's men's and women's squads now travel to London for the next round where they will both play Great Britain and Germany.
