England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by captain Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
The all-rounder made this message in several interviews following England's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I required," said the England leader.
However, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently took a break to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay alive in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had remained in line with their prior tenure in leadership.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia spinner Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
This means, the home team require four wickets on the last day to secure an unassailable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle will be completed in just eleven days of play – with England losing the initial matches in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
While the opener's innings in the third Test likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
But, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There is no chat like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.