Has an AFL game ever ended 81-73?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 81-73 3 times. It first happened on July 28, 1928, when Collingwood beat Richmond, and most recently on August 17, 2018, when Richmond beat Essendon.
That makes 81-73 the 1534th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 82-73 has happened 8 times and 81-74 has happened 6 times. At one point the score disappeared for 89 years, between 1929 and 2018.