Has an AFL game ever ended 97-71?
It has. 97-71 has been a AFL final 4 times in 16,622 games. The first was Richmond beat St Kilda on June 17, 1950; the latest was Melbourne beat Footscray on March 16, 2022.
That makes 97-71 the 947th most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 98-71 has happened 4 times and 97-72 has happened 5 times. At one point the score disappeared for 57 years, between 1950 and 2007.