Has an AFL game ever ended 98-72?
It has. 98-72 has been a AFL final 6 times in 16,622 games. The first was Richmond beat Fitzroy on July 13, 1946; the latest was Geelong beat Adelaide on May 6, 2023.
That makes 98-72 the 342nd most common final score out of 6,607 that have ever occurred in AFL. One point away, 99-72 has happened 6 times and 98-73 has happened 9 times. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 2010 and 2039. At one point the score disappeared for 68 years, between 1946 and 2014.