The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of statements made by captain Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes made those words in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series against Australia previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said the England leader.
But, after Crawley made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" comment after his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently took a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to this match, he said his team had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
The Hosts Close of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team need just four more wickets on the last day to move to an unassailable three-nil lead after three Tests.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
This series will be completed in only 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when Australia sealed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his immediate place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on day four, adding to his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, Crawley said any notion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is noise from the outside. There is no discussion like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
