Has an AFL game ever ended 79-53?
It has. 79-53 has been a AFL final 5 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat Melbourne on May 10, 1913; the latest was Melbourne beat Brisbane Lions on April 21, 1989.
That makes 79-53 the 589th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 80-53 has happened 2 times and 79-54 has happened 4 times. At one point the score disappeared for 37 years, between 1914 and 1951.