England opener Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of statements made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors now face a series loss with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
But, following the opener made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "fragile individuals" observation after his side suffered a loss in the second Test to fall 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a break to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before this match, he revealed his players had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special entering this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need just four more wickets on the last day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's winless run in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
This series will be completed in just eleven days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians completed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although Crawley's performance in Adelaide likely secures questions about his immediate place in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus Australia.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has played as many times in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
But, Crawley said any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope originates with "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "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 if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is noise from the outside. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he concluded.
