England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of statements from skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus the Australians previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
However, after Crawley scored 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment after his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's wicket on day four came during a crucial triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require four wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes loss.
The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable side. It was always going to be hard coming here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
While Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope was out for 17 in England's second knock on day four, adding to his poor record versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a half-century and averages 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There is no chat of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley concluded.
