England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes made this message in several interviews in the wake of England's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
However, following Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment after England were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The team afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.
Before this match, he said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained consistent with their previous three years in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special going into this game."
The Hosts Close of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left England six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435.
Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil lead after three Tests.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in just eleven days of play – after England fell the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
While Crawley's innings in the third Test likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope appears under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
But, Crawley insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "He has had a good year if I'm honest."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
