EVEN after years playing football, ACT local David Striegl had never got into a fight - until he was knocked out cold by a rogue kangaroo.
Mr Striegl, 25, was running up the city's Mount Ainslie during his lunchbreak yesterday and did not think twice when he spotted one of the resident roos nearby.
The bushland reserve in the nation's capital is popular with joggers and cyclists, and assaults by the marsupials who share the mountain are rare.
Mr Striegl was knocked unconscious and remembers little about the attack.
"I turned around and before I knew it, it took a swipe at my face," he said.
A passing motorist roused the dazed and bloody victim and took him to hospital.
After x-rays and a tetanus shot he was able to go home with only a black eye to show for the encounter.
But he has now become something of legend at his corporate real estate office, where he returned to work the next day to discover he had a new nickname - "Skippy".
"I didn't want to wait til Monday to face the music," he said.
"The main thing they've been asking is whether I got one (punch) back on the roo.
"I can't even say that, because one punch and it put me to the floor.
"All my years of playing football and never a fight, and then I have a fight with a kangaroo."
So will Mr Striegl be running back to the area any time soon and risk a second round?
"Yeah, a few guys from work said they might come with me though," he laughed.
The attack comes a year after a crazed kangaroo crashed through a sleeping family's window at Garran, in Canberra's south, before going on a rampage through their home.
Beat Ettlin, his partner Verity Beman and their nine-year-old daughter Beatrix hid under blankets as the two-metre high animal jumped on top of them and gouged holes and their furniture.
Mr Ettlin eventually wrestled the thrashing animal and dragged it out of the house, saving his family from serious injury.
Eastern grey kangaroo. 25-year-old man David Striegl was knocked unconscious by a kangaroo on the Mount Ainslie nature reserve in the Australian capital Canberra on Thursday.  He received cuts and bruises and a black eye after being scratched and hit by the kangaroo. Mount Ainslie is located near the centre of the Australian capital, with Australia's parliament houses designed to be viewed from the top of the mountain.  

He does not remember much about the incident, only that he turned around and saw the kangaroo which hit him in the face.  He said that the kangaroo scratched him at first then guessed that it must have hit him which caused him to lose consciousness. He was taken to hospital by a motorist who was passing by.  At the hospital he was given x-rays and a tetanus shot before being discharged.

Striegl had been jogging up the mountain during his lunch break.  Joggers and cyclists are common on the mountain, which is located a few kilometres from the city centre. He was a former Australian rules footballer, and says he had never been in a fight, until being hit by the kangaroo. He had seen kangaroos box each other before but didn't know they would box people.  He said he would not have thrown a punch back if he had the chance because of their status as a national symbol, and he has no hard feelings against kangaroos. His colleagues at the United Group Ltd. real estate office where he works have given him the nickname ''Skippy'', after the famous television show.  He said he will continue jogging at the reserve, but with company next time.

Injuries from kangaroos in Australia are rare, and it is almost unheard of for someone to be knocked out by one.  This attack comes a year after a kangaroo crashed through a window of a house in Canberra before rampaging through the house.