Photo: EPA Photo: AFP/GETTY Photo: GETTY IMAGES
In a real life example of the country's infamous "Boxing Kangaroo" mascot, the 25 year-old was out running when he was attacked by the rogue animal on Thursday.
The Australian Rules football player, from Canberra, the country’s capital, was then knocked unconscious after it punched him in the face and remembers little about the unprovoked attack.
"I turned around and before I knew it, it took a swipe at my face," he said.
Mr Striegl, who works in a corporate real estate office, was found by a passing motorist who took the dazed and bloody victim to hospital.
His only injury seemed to be some cuts and bruises, a black eye and a wounded ego with his colleagues making fun of his misfortune and giving him a new nickname – “Skippy”.
"The main thing they've been asking is whether I got one (punch) back on the roo,” he told the Australian Associated Press.
"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."
He had been running up the city's Mount Ainslie during his lunch break and did not think twice when he spotted one of the resident kangaroos 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. Though exceptional, it is not uncommon for kangaroos to attack humans
The attack comes a year after a nine-foot kangaroo invaded a house in Canberra during the night, terrifying its occupants 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.
"My initial thought when I was half awake was: it's a lunatic ninja coming through the window," he said at the time.
The previous year a jogger was attacked by a kangaroo in the outer Melbourne suburb of Sunbury.
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.