Has an AFL game ever ended 77-73?
It has. 77-73 has been a AFL final 3 times in 16,622 games. The first was Essendon beat Melbourne on May 9, 1931; the latest was Footscray beat Sydney on May 2, 2015.
That makes 77-73 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 78-73 has happened 9 times and 77-74 has happened 4 times. At one point the score disappeared for 44 years, between 1931 and 1975.