Has an AFL game ever ended 97-81?
Yes. AFL has seen a final score of 97-81 6 times. It first happened on July 23, 1949, when Geelong beat Sydney, and most recently on June 16, 2023, when Brisbane Lions beat Sydney.
That makes 97-81 the 342nd most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 98-81 has happened 5 times and 97-82 has happened 1 times. At one point the score disappeared for 27 years, between 1958 and 1985.