Has an AFL game ever ended 71-57?
It has. 71-57 has been a AFL final 8 times in 16,622 games. The first was Sydney beat Geelong on May 24, 1913; the latest was GWS beat Adelaide on July 15, 2023.
That makes 71-57 the 87th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 72-57 has happened 6 times and 71-58 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 29 years, between 1952 and 1981.