Has an AFL game ever ended 57-42?
It has. 57-42 has been a AFL final 2 times in 16,622 games. The first was Footscray beat Essendon on July 19, 1952; the latest was Carlton beat Essendon on April 9, 2017.
That makes 57-42 the 2421st most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 58-42 has happened 3 times and 57-43 has happened 2 times. At one point the score disappeared for 65 years, between 1952 and 2017.