Demetriou was angry about claims in the Herald Sun that an AFL executive had held secret talks with Cook.
He said on SEN's Morning Glory program that the closest the AFL had come to sounding out Cook was at a social occasion at a Bondi restaurant.
Demetriou said there were about 10 at the restaurant including several AFL administrators. Towards the end of the evening, Cook was asked about his plans after his tenure as Geelong chief executive had finished.
It was jokingly asked whether he might be interested in the North Melbourne job.
Demetriou said the question was just one of those that can be thrown up towards the end of a jovial evening — "after three bottles of wine".
"There wasn't anything secret about," Demetriou said. "It was a half-hearted joke."
Demetriou was angry that the journalist who had written the article in the Herald Sun about the alleged secret talks had not rung him for his side of events before publication.
