Has an AFL game ever ended 71-40?
It has. 71-40 has been a AFL final 3 times in 16,622 games. The first was Sydney beat Footscray on July 29, 1967; the latest was Sydney beat Essendon on July 4, 1970.
That makes 71-40 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 72-40 has happened 4 times and 71-41 has happened 1 times. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 1950 and 1979.