Has an AFL game ever ended 86-73?
It has. 86-73 has been a AFL final 5 times in 16,622 games. The first was Sydney beat Fitzroy on September 27, 1924; the latest was Essendon beat Hawthorn on June 20, 2021.
That makes 86-73 the 589th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 87-73 has happened 7 times and 86-74 has happened 8 times. At one point the score disappeared for 51 years, between 1944 and 1995.