Nathan Collins has made the clearest point of the debate around the Republic of Ireland's fixtures with Israel: if individual players want to take a stand, they will not be held back. The Ireland captain said that while the home game is still scheduled for 4 October at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the squad should trust the FAI and government to handle the wider issue.

Why Collins is leaving room for individual protest

"They are entitled to their own opinions. If they are very strong about that, we can't stop them," Collins told rte.ie. He doubled down on that view by saying, "What we'd speak about is hard to say, because you need the whole group together. But if individuals wanted to take a stand, we are not going to stand against them, we are not going to hold them back."

That is the strongest line in the story. Collins is not claiming to speak for every player, and he is not pretending the issue is neat. He is saying the opposite, that individual choice matters and should not be policed inside the camp.

He also added: "For players we just have to trust the FAI, we have to trust the government that they know what they're doing. We're picked to play football. You know, we're picked to represent our country. It's a tough situation for us to be in and we have to trust the people around us, that they know what they are doing."

Collins is also talking about his own season

The other half of Collins' interview is more personal. He said he was dropped to the bench in late January and had to wait until early March before playing his way back into the Brentford team. That came after he took on both the club captaincy and the Ireland armband, something he admits he handled badly at the start.

"Individually I had a lot of ups and downs. I think at the start of the season I took a lot on," he said. "Probably at the start I took too much on and took it too seriously, and I tried to change too much what I needed to do for the team."

The numbers back up the sense that he was a regular across the year rather than a player stuck on the outside. Collins made 35 Premier League appearances in 2025, and his 6.77 rating points to a solid season rather than a spectacular one.

He says the last part of the campaign felt better because he started using the players around him more. "The longer the season has gone on, I've learned that and I've used the lads around me, and it has probably freed myself up a bit. ... I think my performances have stepped up since I found that within myself," he said.

Brentford finished 9th on 52 points with a +3 goal difference, missing out on Europe on goal difference after the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield. Collins' own final note fits that finish, too. He earned a 7.7 rating in that match, which is a decent sign that the season ended more cleanly than it began.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →