Has an AFL game ever ended 71-68?
It has. 71-68 has been a AFL final 3 times in 16,622 games. The first was Fitzroy beat Collingwood on June 28, 1919; the latest was Fremantle beat Adelaide on June 10, 2018.
That makes 71-68 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 72-68 has happened 5 times and 71-69 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 51 years, between 1919 and 1970.