Has an AFL game ever ended 88-79?
It has. 88-79 has been a AFL final 3 times in 17,053 games. The first was Carlton beat Geelong on June 15, 1959; the latest was Melbourne beat St Kilda on June 29, 1974.
That makes 88-79 the 1599th most common final score out of 6,649 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 89-79 has happened 8 times and 88-80 has happened 7 times. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 1950 and 1979.