Has an AFL game ever ended 56-49?
It has. 56-49 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Melbourne beat St Kilda on August 20, 1921; the latest was St Kilda beat Essendon on June 13, 1966.
That makes 56-49 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 57-49 has happened 2 times and 56-50 has happened 2 times. At one point the score disappeared for 35 years, between 1927 and 1962.