Has an AFL game ever ended 72-43?
It has. 72-43 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Collingwood beat Essendon on June 17, 1905; the latest was Sydney beat Footscray on June 20, 1953.
That makes 72-43 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 73-43 has happened 1 times and 72-44 has happened 3 times. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 1890 and 1919. At one point the score disappeared for 41 years, between 1912 and 1953.