Xavier Tanner is a former Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne

North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 and Melbourne

Melbourne Football Club

The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....

 in the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (VFL).

A centreman, Tanner was recruited to the VFL from Wodonga in the Ovens & Murray Football League

Ovens & Murray Football League

The Ovens and Murray Football League, often referred to locally as the O&M, is a semi-professional Australian rules football league based around ten clubs in north-eastern Victoria and the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, and affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League...

. He played in North Melbourne's 1977 premiership side and their losing grand final the following season. After managing exactly 100 games he joined his old coach Ron Barassi

Ron Barassi

Ronald Dale Barassi, Jr AM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. During a long and decorated career, Barassi has been one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. His father, Ron Barassi, Sr., was the first Australian footballer killed at Tobruk during...

 at Melbourne in 1984 and spent the last two seasons of his career with them.

Tanner is currently the Assistant Principal at Wanganui Park Secondary College in Shepparton, Victoria.

Tanner's father Gerald Tanner played one game for Richmond

Richmond Football Club

The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...

 in 1941

1941 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1941.-Premiership season:In 1941, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man...

.