You're probably expecting the standard qualifier to the effect that Strokosch is also a lover of romantic poetry who likes nothing better than a spot of flower arranging in his spare time. Well sorry to disappoint, but over the course of a lengthy conversation at Murrayfield the other day the 23-year-old flanker admitted that he had once considered a career in ultimate fighting, in which a range of martial arts are combined with eye-bulging animosity, and that he recently took ownership of his pet Labrador only after his girlfriend had vetoed his idea of a Rottweiler.

Yet if the details suggest an individual who is more in line for an anti-social behaviour order than any international honour, it ought to be said that Strokosch is also a polite, engaging and articulate individual whose aggressive instincts are kept safely, if that's the word, in their proper places. And over the past couple of months, those places have been the Magners League and Heineken Cup matches in which the powerhouse loose forward has routinely been earning the plaudits of almost everyone who has watched him at work.

Perhaps the most significant spectator has been Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach who first brought Strokosch into the professional game three years ago when he was in charge at Edinburgh. Hadden candidly admits that the player made less impact at senior level than he had expected, but has been delighted with his progress since he began to focus on the core function of the blindside flanker.

"Todd [Blackadder] told me at the end of last season that he was really coming on, " Hadden explains. "He's finally got a clear picture of what his role is, which is that he's one of the biggest, strongest, toughest guys we have in this country.

"He seemed to see his role as something different from just smashing people. He seemed to want to be another type of player. He is now much more focused on what he brings to the team. That's great, because who's challenging Jason White in that role just now?

If Alasdair can get himself up another notch or two then he's going to be pushing Jason."

White's status, both as the outstanding Scottish player of his era and as the Scotland captain, blocked Strokosch's path into the international squad that was named last week. While he will almost certainly be included in the Scotland A squad that is announced later today, surely Strokosch nurtures some resentment over the scenario? If he does then it is very well disguised. "Jason is on the verge of becoming a Scottish legend, " Strokosch enthuses. "He's someone I look up to, someone I admire. I like his style of play and think he's immense. It's better having him there playing for Scotland than not.

"Sure, it does make it difficult for me, but at the same time I'm glad he's there. I'm glad we've got a player like that playing for our national team. I'm a Scotland fan through and through, to the heart, and I'm really happy he's there. If that means I never get capped then so be it, so long as he's still doing the business. He's clearly the man of the moment."

Maybe so, but you still hope that Strokosch develops those few extra ounces of hardness and self-confidence to not just want to knock White of his seemingly unassailable pedestal, but to actually believe he can do it. Indeed, many believe that White's delayed the fulfilment of his own potential through a lack of faith in himself, so it would be all the more unfortunate if the same inhibitions were to be visited upon his apprentice.

Perhaps time will see them off. For if Strokosch was slow into his stride as a professional player, there is a powerful impression that he is now making up for lost time. While Edinburgh flagged down the finishing straight of last season's Celtic League campaign, Strokosch enjoyed consistent selection and was able to use that as a springboard into the Scotland A team's successful summer participation in the Churchill Cup in North America. "That was another step up for me, " he smiles. "I hadn't played much last year, but towards the end of the season I got a run at openside, and then went to the Churchill Cup. It was a real eye-opener, not so much the speed of the games as the physicality. It brought me a lot of confidence being selected for that tour and getting selected to start as well. It made me feel great."

The experience of reaching the Churchill Cup final convinced him he could not just live with the best, but could impose himself at that level too. By his own admission, the Mohican haircut he sported at the start of this season was simply a reinforcement of the harsher attitude he brought to the game, and while his barnet is now shaped along more conventional lines, he has taken heart from the demanding regime brought to the Edinburgh dressing room by new coach Lynn Howells and by the side's autonomy from central SRU control.

"A lot of guys have been forced to front up in the gym, in training and in everything we do now, " Strokosch says. "There's a real hard attitude and work ethic. If you're soft then you're not going to get to play, especially not with Lynn as coach. He's a tough man himself and it's rubbing off on the players too. But a lot of it is coming from the players as well. We realised we were seen as having a soft underbelly and we've taken that as a bit of an insult and want to put things right."

With Ally Hogg and Simon Taylor sidelined by injuries at the moment, Strokosch has appreciated the need to take more responsibility on himself: "It's forced me to take more of a leadership role, " he says. "I've always been a quiet and shy member of the squad, but I had to sit down and have a word with myself. I've been here a few years, I'm not that young any more, and I have to start taking control of things."

As far as imposing himself is concerned, Strokosch could scarcely have a more appropriate stage than today's Heineken Cup match against Leinster at Murrayfield to demonstrate the more assertive side of his game. It was in a Celtic League match against Leinster last season that Strokosch made the tackle on his opposite number that he still savours as his best ever . . . "It took him a wee while to get back up. It felt good."

. . . and he recognises that forward domination will again be the key to starving the stellar Leinster backline of possession. If Edinburgh are to make anything of their Heineken Cup involvement this season, only a victory will do.