Has an AFL game ever ended 96-83?
It has. 96-83 has been a AFL final 5 times in 16,622 games. The first was St Kilda beat Richmond on July 31, 1965; the latest was Sydney beat GWS on July 15, 2017.
That makes 96-83 the 589th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 97-83 has happened 4 times and 96-84 has happened 4 times. At one point the score disappeared for 28 years, between 1977 and 2005.