Has an AFL game ever ended 52-48?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 52-48 3 times. It first happened on September 4, 1897, when Geelong beat Collingwood, and most recently on June 30, 1962, when Geelong beat St Kilda.
That makes 52-48 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 53-48 has happened 3 times and 52-49 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 50 years, between 1912 and 1962.