Has an AFL game ever ended 72-54?
It has. 72-54 has been a AFL final 6 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat Essendon on August 25, 1906; the latest was Port Adelaide beat Sydney on June 22, 2013.
That makes 72-54 the 342nd most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 73-54 has happened 7 times and 72-55 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 41 years, between 1948 and 1989.