The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by captain Stokes about 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 previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "drift around" within the squad.
"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," remarked the England leader.
However, following Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "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," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to his side were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Prior to this match, he 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.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed consistent with their prior tenure in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
Crawley's wicket late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.
Consequently, Australia require just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil lead after three Tests.
A loss will extend the English team's winless run in Australia to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes loss.
This series will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here 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 like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be tough coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – 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 "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a good year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no chat of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley finished.
