Has an AFL game ever ended 96-61?
It has. 96-61 has been a AFL final 7 times in 17,053 games. The first was Essendon beat Hawthorn on May 24, 1930; the latest was Fitzroy beat Essendon on August 23, 1986.
That makes 96-61 the 222nd most common final score out of 6,649 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 97-61 has happened 2 times and 96-62 has happened 2 times. At one point the score disappeared for 31 years, between 1941 and 1972.