Has an AFL game ever ended 72-56?
It has. 72-56 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat University on May 24, 1913; the latest was Adelaide beat Carlton on September 13, 2020.
That makes 72-56 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 73-56 has happened 2 times and 72-57 has happened 6 times. At one point the score disappeared for 59 years, between 1961 and 2020.