Speaking at the official opening of the club's premiership cup display area at Skilled Stadium, Cook was surprised by assertions made on The Footy Show on Thursday night that there would be no further contact between the two parties on a new deal until the conclusion of the finals series.
"It's news to me and I think it would be news to a lot of other people at the footy club, so I'm assuming that's not true," Cook said on Friday.
"[But] it's not something that we can make any new comment on until negotiations recommence. They haven't recommenced so all I'm doing is regurgitating what I said yesterday, last week and last month really.
"He's the best player in the AFL, arguably, he's the best player at Geelong, arguably, and all those things, but at the end of the day we just cannot continue to talk about it like this every half-day which we do."
The issue of Ablett's playing future has dominated the landscape in Geelong and there appears no end in sight despite the club's publicly-stated desire to have a resolution one way or another by the mid-point of the season.
Ablett said in a News Limited column earlier this year that he would not be rushed into making a decision on his future, and that it could come after the season.
"It was the hope [to have it done by the middle of the season] and it still is," Cook said. "I haven't moved away from that, but really it's up to Gary's manager to make contact and start negotiating if he wishes to.
"The focus of our football club is to perform well on field and to win the premiership in 2010.
"We have lots of contracts to finish of which Gary, understandably, is the most important but the point I'm making is that let's put the contract to one side, let's worry more about our performance on field.
"[If we] put all our energies into that area and if Gary wants to come and see us next week, next month or at the end of the year then so be it."
With a massive contract offer from Gold Coast on the table, the issue has haunted coach Mark Thompson's every media commitment since well before the start of the season.
His recent candid comments on a Melbourne radio station expressing his displeasure at the situation sparked rumours of a widening rift between coach and player, but Cook said there was "no foundation" to such claims.
The club has maintained an open policy of discussing the progress of negotiations throughout, but Cook admitted he was starting to tire of the constant speculation in the public forum.
"I mean we could say today 'we'll make no comment on this forever' and we would - we'd say 'no comment' [when asked about Ablett's contract status]," he said.
"But on the other hand there is an expectation out there that people are informed. Although I am getting to the stage where that's not a big issue for me either because we've got nothing more to say.
"I think we'd prefer to say a lot less than we have in the past going into the future."
