Nathan Lyon said England's batsmen were "frightened" of Australia's bowling during the last Ashes tour in Australia.
The off-spinner says Mitchell Johnson's extreme pace in 2013-14 intimidated the tourists so much that they were already "broken" after the first Test.
Johnson took 37 wickets at 13.97 and did most of the damage as England were whitewashed 5-0.
"Seeing Mitchell Johnson scare all the Poms was unbelievable," Lyon said. "Leading into (the third Test at) Perth we knew they were broken; we knew Matt Prior wanted to fly home before the game started."
Lyon said the whole team, "one to 11", were just as frightened as Prior, adding: "He was scared. It's four years ago, I think he's all right now."
Lyon said he felt as if he needed to shove English batsmen back into the line of the ball when Johnson was running up to bowl.
"I was at leg-slip," he added, "I nearly had to push a couple of the guys back towards the stumps, it was good fun!"
Prior described Lyon's claim that he wanted to leave the series early as "laughable", "ridiculous" and "wholeheartedly untrue".
He said: "I think Nathan Lyon has got other things to worry about without thinking about me. I hope he lets his cricket do the talking now."
Lyon's final word was for England captain Joe Root. "It's good, isn't it? I know Root got dropped last time, so it'd be good to get him dropped again - that would be good, wouldn't it?"