Aloese dropped his head. That's about the only thing I can think that would have been grounds for ejection. But it was such a bang-bang play, I think the call was awfully harsh. It did not appear intentional.
The issue of intentional targeting came up during a game I was watching last week.
The initial call was targeting.
The replay showed it wasn't intentional (The player that got hit dropped his shoulder).
Didn't matter,their "rules expert" said its the hit,whether intentional or not.
" Intentional" does not really come into play. Two types of targeting, a Crown play 9-1-4 and a non crown play 9-1-3. A flipper to the head in a thrusting blow would be a 9-1-3, and dropping head to deliver a blow to the head/neck area is a 9-1-4.
"Flagrant" is probably the word I should have used instead of "intentional." Any flagrant foul is grounds for ejection.
My reading of 9-1-3 and 9-1-4 are that both require contact be made against the opponent. He did drop his head and lead with the helmet, but there was no contact with it (9-1-3). He made contact with his body, while his head was dropped. It's also hard to argue that the QB had "obviously" given himself up and was defenseless (9-1-4).
As I said, I think the call was harsh under those circumstances. But they're instructed to err on the side of calling the penalty, and that was probably the ref's logic in sustaining the call.