England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments from captain Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes made this message in several conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series versus the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where England are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had allowed his sentiment to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
But, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," he added.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain issued his "weak men" observation subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The team afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Before this match, he said his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side 207-6 chasing a notional target of 435.
Consequently, the home team need four wickets on the final day to move to an unassailable three-nil lead after three Tests.
A loss will extend England's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes loss.
This series will be completed in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in the third Test probably answers questions about his immediate place in the side, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his poor record versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a good year if I'm honest."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk from the outside. There's no chat like that regarding Pope in the camp," he concluded.
