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Mr Striegl was left with facial injuries and a black eye after he was attacked by a kangaroo in Canberra. Photo: EPA

Though rare, it is not uncommon for kangaroos to attack humans. Photo: AFP/GETTY

The boxing kangaroo, pictured here on a flag that flew over Vancouver at the recent Winter Olympics, is an infamous Australian cultural mascot. 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.