Has an AFL game ever ended 53-51?
It has. 53-51 has been a AFL final 5 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat Sydney on June 6, 1908; the latest was Port Adelaide beat Melbourne on August 10, 2024.
That makes 53-51 the 589th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 54-51 has happened 5 times and 53-52 has happened 2 times. At one point the score disappeared for 61 years, between 1963 and 2024.