The 29-year-old was dropped to Williamstown this week for his second VFL appearance of the season after his form and fitness came under question in the Dogs' 48-point loss to Collingwood on Sunday.
Eade said on Friday suggestion the fullback should be exposed to a concentrated training block rather than playing for the Seagulls was rubbish.
"We did give him a mini pre-season. He trained for 10 weeks," Eade said at Manuka Oval in Canberra after the Dogs touched down in the nation's capital.
"People thinking he hasn't had a pre-season is garbage. He started running in mid January so he's had a pre-season."
Lake had three off-season operations; the first on his knee in grand final week, then on his hip after a holiday in the US and finally, in late December, on his shoulder and bicep tendon.
Eade said the club was standing by its management plan for the burly defender and had not rushed him into the senior side prematurely in round three.
"Brian was right to go. His knee is improving every week and we had a scan during the week and what we saw on the scan is what we expected, so that was pleasing," he said.
"If we didn't have a bye at round four, he would probably have not played against Gold Coast. That week into the bye, we probably would have played him another week or two at Willy.
"We gave him some AFL fitness then we had the bye and did some more work.
"It's just Brian being able to cope with a bit of pain and discomfort at this stage.
"People will think we should rest him but the medical advice is he's got to keep playing and get some match fitness and his knee will keep improving."
It was suggested in a report on Thursday night's The Footy Show that Lake was angry at having to play in the VFL and wanted to commit to a solid block of training instead.
Eade said his defender was realistic about where his fitness and confidence level was and had accepted the plan for at least the next three weeks.
"No one's happy to [be dropped] but we spoke about the bigger picture and having a long season," he said.
"Brian you could see there was some concern about him on Sunday when we played and he struggled to run a bit in the last half.
"The way he was going at the moment, there was no sense in keeping him playing and Brian knew that himself because his confidence was down and he hasn't got confidence in his body.
"We just needed to formulate a plan to get him back as soon as possible."
Eade refused to comment on the reported off-field dispute between Lake and former Bulldog Nathan Eagleton regarding a business venture gone wrong other to say it hadn't played a part in the backman's lack of form.
"No, not that I would think so," he said.
"It's best to leave that alone. It's been going for a while and it didn't affect him last year."
