The Bulldogs were buoyed by captain Brad Johnson's record-breaking 324th game, but saddened by the death of Lindsay Gilbee's father, Lawrie, who lost a short battle with an aggressive form of leukaemia on Friday night.
Eade said the close-knit nature of the club had ensured neither situation overwhelmed the players.
"We had the high of Brad's situation, and the low of Lindsay's situation. We spoke about what each of those situations meant for the team," Eade said.
He said it was a courageous effort from Gilbee, a late withdrawal two weeks ago after his father took a turn for the worst, simply to play.
"His emotions have been fluctuating wildly over the past couple of weeks," Eade said.
"He phoned me last night about a quarter to 10 and told me the news, but said he really wanted to play.
"I think full credit to him. It showed a lot of courage. I think it what his dad wanted, and also the support network through the club as well was very strong for Lindsay.
"I thought he performed well and it didn't affect his game. I think he rose to the challenge and it was probably as good as he has played for awhile."
Eade said the decision to play against Fremantle had been left to Gilbee, and the defender had been clear in his mind when making the choice.
"It's always very difficult to know what to say in that time, and I thought he would probably say he wouldn't play," he said.
"He took it on himself that he wanted to play, and we spoke about his family and had a chat for a while.
"I didn't mention [the game], and he said just said he wanted to play. He sounded fairly clear in his mind what he wanted to do."
On the game, Eade said he was happy with 31-point win, but disappointed with the Dogs' second half.
"We were very pedestrian after half time and just fluctuated a bit with our intensity and just did what had to be done," he said.
"We probably should have been able to nail the game a little bit earlier, and that was disappointing."
Johnson, who broke Chris Grant's club games record, said he was thrilled to leave the field through a guard of honour assembled after Fremantle coach Mark Harvey rallied his players to pay tribute to the Bulldogs' champion.
"It was a big thrill, especially after a hard-fought win. It was nice, and thanks to Mark and Matty Pavlich for sorting that out," he said.
"It was a big buzz."
