AS A product of Melbourne’s outer-east, Sam Mitchell knows only too well the devastation the weekend bushfires brought to local communities.

The Hawthorn captain grew up in Mooroolbark and he was visibly upset on Monday when speaking about the disaster that has claimed more than 100 lives and left thousands homeless.

“It’s a bit hard to even talk about it really,” Mitchell said.

“There was the Bali bombing and how big that was with more than 200 people dying and 88 Australians,” he said.

 “In my local area the suburb down the road, Coldstream had a fire engine burn down. The footy clubs, schools. It’s so hard to handle.

“The fact it is still going on and we’re sitting here in front of the media doing this sort of thing.

“I see people shopping and going about their normal lives but there are thousands of people whose lives have just been upended. There are over 100 people dead and it’s very hard to comprehend.”

Like many Australians Mitchell has been moved to lend a helping hand. He has already spoken to teammates about what they can do.

“I was really happy this morning to have a kick around the footy club and the boys were saying: ‘maybe we can do this or that’,” he said.

“A lot of people have only got the clothes on their back. You know you’re in a good place when as a footy club or as a nation or a community that the talk around a bunch of 18-30 year old blokes is what we can do to help.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good attitude about it and sometimes you wish there was more you can do.”