Australia's hockey men have not exactly been given much of a reward for their unbeaten five-match Olympic run as the Kookaburras drew one of the sport's powerhouses, the Netherlands, in the quarter-finals.

Yet coach Colin Batch couldn't be more confident about the form his men are taking into Sunday's clash with the world's No.3 ranked Dutch, even after they relinquished their 100 per cent Tokyo record in Friday's final pool game.

And the chances of his team, currently ranked No.1 in the world, have been given another potential boost with a major injury worry for Belgium, the team shaping up to be Australia's main challengers.

A last-minute goal from Spain that eked out a 1-1 draw may have spoiled Australia's perfect record but Batch was quick to put things into perspective.

"It's easy to be disappointed, and straight after the game the guys were, but the reality is we've played strongly and finished on top," he said.

"We qualified easily for the quarter-finals, it is important to acknowledge that, and now we need to review this game, get the learnings from it and move on to Sunday."

He felt the tough contest with Spain, their first against European opposition for 18 months, had been ideal preparation for another duel against the Netherlands, with whom Australia have enjoyed a rich Olympic rivalry.

In 2004, Australia's men won their only hockey gold by beating the Dutch, then the reigning champions, 2-1 in the final in Athens and four years later defeated them again for the bronze medal.

Four years ago, though, the Dutch hammered Australia 4-0 at the same quarter-final stage, a fate the Kookaburras look well-equipped to avoid this time around with six-goal Blake Govers, the second top marksman in the tournament, and four-goal Tim Brand both in prolific form.

The Dutch, in contrast, have not been entirely convincing, winning two, losing two and drawing one of their five matches.

The other pool winners Belgium will play Spain but are set to be without the tournament's top scorer, the nine-goal Alex Hendrickx, who was hit in the face from a stick follow-through against Great Britain and needed 10 stitches.

Sunday's other quarters see champions Argentina play Germany while India meet Britain.