Todd Carney has advised his Cronulla teammate Andrew Fifita to ignore the media spotlight bearing down on him and concentrate on playing football to get his career back on track.

Fifita has been consistently in the public glare over the past two weeks and that is sure to continue as the superstar prop moves to determine his playing future.

No stranger to contract dramas and the media spotlight himself, Carney says he told Fifita ahead of Saturday’s 37-6 demolition of the Warriors to put everything else aside and just concentrate on football.

The representative prop did just that with a strong effort up front that laid the platform for the club’s first win.

“When he is confident that is when he plays well, that is what he has to go back to, so that’s what I said to him, `go back to that and don’t worry about what is in the press’,” Carney said.

“He has to put away outside influences and go back to what he did last year.

“Where he is right now, he did that himself, it wasn’t a coach or it wasn’t someone else who put him in the position he is as a footballer now, it is his hard work.

“It is his ability as a footballer to do the things he does. He just has to go back to that and let his football do the talking and he is starting to realise that and when he does realise that I can’t wait for that, and I’m sure the game can’t wait for that either.”

Sharks interim coach Peter Sharp praised Fifita’s effort against the Warriors, but said the NSW and Australian representative had plenty of improvement left in him ahead of Cronulla’s trip to Brookvale Oval to play Manly on Sunday.

After his multi-million dollar deal with Canterbury fell apart last week, Carney said he was hopeful Fifita would stay in the Shire.

“The club isn’t going anywhere. It is good for him to concentrate on football and let all that other stuff sort itself out,” Carney said.

“I’m sure it will and hopefully he will stay at Cronulla and we get the benefits of it further down the track for years to come.”