Has an AFL game ever ended 78-38?
It has. 78-38 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Sydney beat Fitzroy on May 18, 1918; the latest was Footscray beat Melbourne on August 22, 1964.
That makes 78-38 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 79-38 has happened never and 78-39 has happened 3 times. At one point the score disappeared for 30 years, between 1930 and 1960.