Has an AFL game ever ended 72-42?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 72-42 5 times. It first happened on July 3, 1909, when Essendon beat St Kilda, and most recently on May 15, 2021, when Sydney beat Collingwood.
That makes 72-42 the 589th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 73-42 has happened never and 72-43 has happened 4 times. At one point the score disappeared for 77 years, between 1939 and 2016.