Has an AFL game ever ended 79-71?
It has. 79-71 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Geelong beat Essendon on August 27, 1910; the latest was Richmond beat Adelaide on June 6, 2024.
That makes 79-71 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 80-71 has happened 3 times and 79-72 has happened 5 times. At one point the score disappeared for 88 years, between 1910 and 1998.