Has an AFL game ever ended 96-87?
It has. 96-87 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Hawthorn beat North Melbourne on May 10, 1969; the latest was Sydney beat Fremantle on August 14, 2010.
That makes 96-87 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 97-87 has happened 6 times and 96-88 has happened 8 times. At one point the score disappeared for 31 years, between 1969 and 2000.