South Sydney Rabbitohs head coach has provided the first confirmation from the club that Damien Cook will depart the club at the end of 2025.
It was rumoured Cook had told his teammates of his departure earlier this week, although the club hadn't confirmed his release.
It's understood the hooker will play for the St George Illawarra Dragons next season.
Ben Hornby, addressing the media on Friday after the club's captain's run ahead of Saturday's game against the Manly Sea Eagles said it wasn't neccessarily what Cook wanted, but that it was the reality of the salary cap, and that everyone was now "happy" with the decision.
"That's the tough part of rugby league at the moment. The reality is the salary cap is what it is so you have to try and fit the pieces in as best you can.
"For Cooky it's obviously not what he wanted but he has made the decision now, he is happy with it and we are looking forward as a club, and he is looking forward to the same.
"This year is the most important thing for us at the moment, this week and going onwards," Hornby told the media.
"I've spoken to Cooky. We had a chat earlier in the week and he informed me of what was going down. Cooky has been great and there is no reason he won't continue to be great this week and going forward."
The interim head coach, who will likely remain part of Wayne Bennett's staff next year, also said the club wouldn't go looking for a replacement, and would rather rely on Peter Mamouzelos to stand up in the role.
"Well, we have. We have Pete Mamouzelos there. He has played pretty much every game this year, so he is ready to go. He hasn't had the game time that'd he probably like, but it might be coming," Hornby said.
"I do yeah [think he is a long-term NRL hooker]. He is a great attacking player, has great instincts around the ball, good defender, solid enough defender and he is still young so he has plenty of improvement."
The Greek representative has made nine appearances so far this year, taking his career tally to 16, with the hooker having been widely labelled the Rabbitohs' long-term dummy half for a number of years now.
