England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered this message in several interviews following England's defeat in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," said Stokes.
But, following Crawley made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "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 media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a break to a Queensland resort between the second and third Tests.
Before this match, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the guidance from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"It's 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 could do something special going into this game."
The Hosts Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left England six down for 207 chasing a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need just four more wickets on the last day to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead with three Tests.
Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes defeat.
The current battle will be completed in only eleven days of cricket – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. They're 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."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on day four, extending his modest returns versus Australia.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
But, the opener said any notion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.
