IT WAS an emotional night at Wimborne Road for Pirates skipper Ben Cook as, on the night Poole secured the treble, he announced he would not be returning to the club next season.

The Australian has been a staple for Pirates since he first rode for them in 2021 – after a false dawn in 2020 when he signed for the season-that-never-was, that was cancelled by the pandemic.

He has flourished on the south coast and was named as club captain for the 2024 season.

And what a season that was – Pirates, with Cook at the helm, soared to the treble, won the Championship, KO Cup and BSN Series.

(Image: Richard Crease) Speaking to the Daily Echo after the KO Cup title was secured on Wednesday night, Cook said his time at Poole had been ‘crazy’.

“A lot of people dream to achieve what we have as a team in the past four years and some people go most of their career without winning a league title and to have three in four years, it's pretty crazy,” Cook said.

“So, yeah, just thankful for everyone here in the management and obviously Matt and Dan [Ford] and everyone who's helped me and supported me.

“Onto a new chapter.”

(Image: Richard Crease) The 26-year-old said his time as captain had been ‘awesome’.

“Obviously, I haven't been a captain before, so didn't know too much what to expect,” he said.

“But I've had a couple of good role models with Danny King and obviously Stevie [Worrall] and the boys in the past.

“The boys were easy to work with all year and we achieved what we wanted to, so can't be even more happy than that.”

On the KO Cup final second leg night itself, Cook summed up his emotions.

(Image: Richard Crease) (Image: Richard Crease) “It's been weird times,” he said.

“Obviously, we've achieved so much this year, but at the same time, it's obviously my last time here, hopefully not forever, but for the time being, so, yeah, just thankfully for everyone here, that's kick started my career.”

Pirates held a sizable lead going into the second leg, thanks to their 57-33 victory in Oxford, and they secured the title by the same scoreline at home.

On the atmosphere in the camp in the lead up to the meeting, Cook said: “Everyone was pretty chill.

“We obviously knew we had a bit of a lead, but at the same time, we still had a job to do.

“So, everyone went out there, done their job and kept continuing on how we have been here.

“We've got the treble, it's happy days.”