Has an AFL game ever ended 41-40?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 41-40 2 times. It first happened on August 26, 1899, when Fitzroy beat Carlton, and most recently on April 28, 1951, when Footscray beat Carlton.
That makes 41-40 the 2421st most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 42-40 has happened never and 41-41 has happened 1 times. At one point the score disappeared for 52 years, between 1899 and 1951.