Matthew Owies (born 19 March 1997) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er and former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

er playing for the Carlton Football Club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Raised in Melbourne, Owies played junior football for Camberwell Sharks and school football for St Kevin's, but was also a skilled basketballer, and at age 15 he switched his primary focus to basketball. As a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

, Owies represented Australia at the

2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship The 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship (Arabic: بطولة العالم لكرة السلة 2014 تحت 17 سنة ) was the 3rd edition of the FIBA Under-17 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship cont ...

, and played for the Dandenong Rangers in the South East Australian Basketball League. Following his junior success, Owies received an athletic scholarship to play

NCAA men's basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

. He played with the Rainbow Warriors as a true freshman in the 2016–17 season; he then sat out the 2017–18 season to transfer to the

Seattle Redhawks The Seattle Redhawks are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams of Seattle University of Seattle, Washington. They compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member institution of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). History Between 1950 and ...

. During 2018, Owies opted to return to Australia and football, and signed with the Carlton Football Club at the end of the 2018 season as a Category B rookie, a category for players who have not been registered with a football club for at least three years. After almost two years of development as a small marking forward, Owies made his senior AFL debut on 8 September 2020 against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

Metricon Stadium Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of the ...

, the only game he played for the season. Owies' next game came early in the 2021 season, in which he kicked his first career goal in a three-goal performance against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

. Owies established himself in the Carlton forward-line over the next two years, and was elevated to the senior list in 2023. Owies currently studies a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University.

References

External links

* * *
Basketball profile
from University of Hawai'i 1997 births Living people Carlton Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball players Australian men's basketball players People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub