Australian men's four crew star Alexander Hill has fired an ominous warning to anyone that wants to dethrone the reigning world champions.
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"We're all better than we were last year".
Hill combined with Spencer Turrin to claim gold in the men's pairs and backed it up to win the men's four event alongside Josh Dunkley-Smith and Nick Purnell at the ACT rowing championships at Lake Burley Griffin on Saturday.
Right behind Hill and Turrin in the pairs event were silver medallists Jack Hargreaves and Joshua Hicks - Hill and Turrin's fellow world title-winning crew members.
That quartet ended Australia's 26-year world championship drought in the men's coxless four event in Florida last year.
It followed a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games and another second-placed finish at the world championships in 2015.
Hill is desperate for more gold and he wants to repeat a double dose with the women's four crew also defending a title at the world rowing championships in Bulgaria in September.
"It would be unreal," Hill said.
"I believe we're all better than we were last year, and obviously we've got to keep stepping it up to hopefully and try to take it out a second time. That would be great if we could. Hopefully we can go two from two.
"We've all been in a pretty hard training block so we pump the brakes now and taper off for selection trials so we can try and get some good performances in at Penrith [Australian rowing trials this month].
"We're all on the right track, everyone is performing and everyone that little bit better than last year which is a positive. Things are shaping up good."
There is no guarantee Hill, Turrin, Hargreaves and Hicks will row together at the Australian team senior trials, beginning on March 19 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
But results at the ACT championships suggest selectors could be leaning that way with an eye on the world championships in September.
"They were second behind us in the pairs [at the ACT championships]. Our four from last year came one and two in the pairs, and they were quite close to us," Hill said.
"We were able to come one and two in the pairs which is a good sign that, hopefully all going well, we might be back together. But who knows yet.
"We'll wait and see what happens at the selection trials. We don't really get told too much. We basically are just racing appears at the moment and let the coaches and selectors decide all that sort of stuff.
"Once we get selected into crews it's basically head down, bum up, into the training hole. The weeks go by pretty quickly so we've got to make the most of everything we can because it definitely flies by pretty quickly."
The ACT rowing championships continue on Sunday with the last of almost 600 elite and age group rowers from all over the country set to vie for glory.