Western Bulldogs premiership player Angelica Gogos has announced her retirement from AFLW.

Gogos managed 28 games in the red, white and blue after arriving at the Kennel as a free agent in 2016, ahead of the inaugural AFLW season.

She played three matches this season, suffering an ankle injury in round three which put a premature end to her 2021 campaign. It was nearly déjà vu for Gogos, who was sidelined in round three of the season prior with an MCL injury.

She said sustaining those injuries in consecutive years helped her come to the decision to retire.

“Retiring was a difficult decision, but one that had to be made due to those injuries,” Gogos said.

“To get back as fit as I could be and ready to go for this year, and then injuring another part of my body in round three, meant I had only played six games over two seasons.

“I’ll miss preparing myself, rehabbing and recovering, and all those things – as tedious as they are, one thing I did in my career was be diligent. That meant I could get back earlier this season, but it was just too much in the end.

“I loved the challenge – mentally and physically. I worked full-time throughout my five-year journey so that was definitely a challenge in itself, but something I went through and got through to get myself up for those games.”

Gogos took up football as a 20-year-old, representing Melbourne University for five years in the Victorian Women’s Football League.

She then took a two-year break from the game, before joining the VU Western Spurs and being drafted to the Bulldogs.

Gogos was grateful she got to be a part of the 2018 AFLW flag – something she didn’t expect to achieve in her career.

“Not thinking that a premiership was within my reach in my journey at AFLW level, I feel so lucky to have been a part of it,” she said.

“All the pieces need to come together to be able to reach that success, and it doesn’t come around all the time. I’m very lucky that I’m someone who got to experience that in their career, and I’m very grateful for that.”

Bulldogs’ General Manager of Women’s Football, Debbie Lee, thanked Gogos for her service and contributions over the past five years.

“’Gogo’ has made a significant contribution to the Club over the past five seasons - her work ethic, tenacity and never give up attitude were always on display, as was her ability to motivate and challenge herself to be the best player for the team,” Lee said.

“She was an in-and-under player who was always focused on either winning the footy, or protecting her teammates. She unassumingly went about her football with a team-first approach, and was a respected player amongst her teammates.

“We thank ‘Gogo’ for her investment, time and commitment, and wish her all the very best with her future endeavours.”