Has an AFL game ever ended 96-71?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 96-71 4 times. It first happened on July 13, 1929, when Geelong beat Fitzroy, and most recently on June 26, 2010, when Collingwood beat Sydney.
That makes 96-71 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 97-71 has happened 4 times and 96-72 has happened 6 times. At one point the score disappeared for 34 years, between 1976 and 2010.