Has an AFL game ever ended 81-56?
It has. 81-56 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Carlton beat Sydney on August 20, 1921; the latest was St Kilda beat Hawthorn on May 16, 1970.
That makes 81-56 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 82-56 has happened 6 times and 81-57 has happened 4 times. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 1950 and 1979. At one point the score disappeared for 40 years, between 1921 and 1961.