West Coast Eagles recruit Matt Owies is settling in well to his new life on the west coast, the 27-year-old former Blue getting straight to work since his arrival.

The small forward said the club and his new teammates have welcomed him with open arms.

“It’s been great, it feels like I’ve been here for a long time, but it’s only been a couple of weeks,” Owies said.

“The club has been great at welcoming me, footy clubs are an awesome place because as soon as you rock up you’ve got 40 new best mates, so it’s been great.”

When asked about is expectations for 2025, Owies said he’s just focused continuing to develop his game, and helping those around him.

“You don’t really have an expectation when you’re going out there, you just want to get better every single day,” Owies said.

“Hopefully I can bring that mindset, it’s only just the start of December, so there’s a lot of pre-season training and a lot of grinding to go before we get into games.

“I’m just looking at trying to get better every day, and then how I can help others on that journey, and hopefully the collective can bring us up.”

Owies had a career-best season with Carlton in 2024, booting 33 goals, including kicking three majors in a game on six occasions.

“It was a great year, and I thought I performed my role well, and took a step up in my consistency and level of play,” Owies said.

“Hopefully sitting next to ‘Crippa’ (Jamie Cripps) and others, I can pick their brains and go to another level personally.

“And then also help the younger boys go to another level week on week and see where that takes us.”

New senior coach Andrew McQualter joined the Eagles after spending close to a decade at Richmond, playing a pivotal role in three Tiger premierships, and Owies said McQualter’s game style drew him to West Coast.

“I think that was actually a massive draw card for me,” Owies said.

“Watching how Richmond did it when they were at the top of their game, and the smalls they had there and how much impact they had on the game, both on offence and defence, I think is a massive draw card for a player like me.

“With ‘Crippa’ and a couple of those other young boys coming through, hopefully we can build a team within a team with those small forwards and really impact games this season.”