MATT Owies had a sense of belonging at Carlton that made his exit last year a sad one, but the West Coast small forward says he has moved on from his former club and is ready to "go into battle" against the Blues on Saturday. 

Out of contract at the end of last year following an excellent 33-goal season, Owies was squeezed out by the Blues as they looked to change their forward line and create room for youngsters like Jesse Motlop, Ashton Moir and Corey Durdin. 

He found a new home at West Coast after 72 games and six seasons with the Blues but felt mixed emotions as the enormity of an unplanned move across the country hit. 

Six months on, however, and the 28-year-old has a fresh perspective after finding an important role with the Eagles as both a competitive small forward and a standard setter off the field. 

"Like in anything, you feel like you belong to a place and I felt like I belonged at Carlton. So that in its rawest emotion made it a sad thing to leave," Owies told AFl.com.au this week. 

"But I'm lucky enough that I've ended up at a great club and somewhere I really enjoy going into work every day. 

"I'm there to help build a winning culture and drag others along and hopefully lead the way, both on-field and off-field. So I've been loving my time at West Coast and I've definitely moved on.

"I'm all in here and excited to get another opportunity to build towards the brand that we want to play."

Owies admitted it would be "a weird feeling" coming up against his former teammates on Saturday, with both the Eagles and Blues looking for their first wins of the season when they meet at Adelaide Oval. 

The former basketballer has been a resource for West Coast players and coaches this week as a young group of new teammates pick his brain about specific players and game styles used by the Blues. 

The player he was most looking forward to matching up on – Nic Newman – will unfortunately be missing due to his long-term knee injury. 

"I was really looking forward to playing 'Newy' because he's pretty lippy out there and I knew that as a teammate, so I was looking forward to being on the opposite end of that," Owies said.

"It is a bit of a weird feeling coming up against guys that you went into battle with, but I guess now there's been enough time that I've been able to step away from that and I've got new mates that I go into battle with every single day.

"This weekend is just another opportunity and I'm looking forward to getting out there and hopefully putting our best foot forward."

West Coast (60.8) and Carlton (62.5) have both ranked bottom four so far this season for average points scored, but the Blues' struggles have come despite having 11.3 more inside 50s a game than their Gather Round opponents. 

Given the circumstances of his exit, the thought had crossed Owies' mind "maybe every now and then" that he could have made a difference this year, but his hands were now full in a new forward line.

The Eagles have also leant on his professionalism off-field this year to help set standards and show the way for a young group finding its place under first-year coach Andrew McQualter. 

Owies, whose preparation during the week and in the 24 hours before a game is carefully plotted, said he wanted to help bring young players along at West Coast as they learn what is required.

"The only reason why I'm still in the AFL and have been able to carve out a career is my hard work and my dedication to being a professional athlete and the dedication I have to working on my craft," he said. 

"I'm not the biggest bloke and I'm not the quickest, but one thing that I can control is how professional I am with getting my body ready, how I prepare for a game, the effort that I put into my craft and training habits.

"Now it's also about bringing others along on the ride and hopefully the collective as a whole can improve rapidly and give us chances to perform and win big games." 

After returning from the United States in 2018 after two years playing college basketball, Owies expected to settle back in Melbourne long-term after signing with the Blues as a category B rookie.

Moving across the country came with the challenge of missing family and close friends, but he has since embraced WA's coastal lifestyle, living 800m from the beach with his partner and their Australian shepherd-kelpie. 

"I just find myself outside the house a lot more which has been great for both my mental aspect and then also my body," Owies said. 

"Then the guys at the club have been awesome, so although I'm away from my tight-knit group of mates that I've had for a long time, the club's sort of a second home and second tight-knit friendship group, which has been awesome. You don't get that everywhere. 

"I was super excited about the move, but once that deal did go through and I was on my way, it did sink in that it was going to be a pretty big move. Not only for me, but for my partner as well. 

"There was a lot of mixed emotions there, but sometimes the moves that you don't plan can lead to the best things, so that's how I'm viewing it."