Has an AFL game ever ended 52-39?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 52-39 3 times. It first happened on May 3, 1902, when Fitzroy beat Essendon, and most recently on June 10, 1963, when Footscray beat Sydney.
That makes 52-39 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 53-39 has happened 1 times and 52-40 has happened 6 times. At one point the score disappeared for 52 years, between 1911 and 1963.