New Zealand have held the Australian men's hockey team to another draw in their short series before next week's Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur.

The Black Sticks scored a last minute equaliser in Newcastle on Wednesday night and some gritty defence at Sydney Olympic Park allowed them to come away with a 1-1 draw.

The Kookaburras have not played for two months and have less than a week to find some polish before the eight team tournament.

Captain Jamie Dwyer was disappointed the Australians failed to convert their many chances.

"We didn't play to the level we wanted to," Dwyer said.

"We had a few chances from corners and we've just got to convert.

"If we play like this I'm not too sure how we will go (in Kuala Lumpur) and if we don't get better we will struggle."

After a fairly tight first half, David Kosoof opened the scoring for New Zealand just 27 seconds into the second half after some beautiful lead-up work down the right.

Australia drew level six minutes later when Nathan Eglington slapped home a penalty corner variation.

The Australians had by far the better of the game but could not crack a New Zealand outfit that was slick and in form after a recent series at home against Korea.

Assistant coach Colin Batch felt the Kiwis deserved a higher international ranking than No.10 and took more positives out of the game than Dwyer.

"Our delivery was much better and our organisation in deep defence than in match one," he said.

"They played very well and these matches are so invaluable for us."

The sides meet again on Sunday with New Zealand trying to inflict their first defeat on Australia in eight years and the Kookaburras keen to find the form that won them Olympic gold in Athens.

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