Malthouse lauded his defensive six who, aside from Harry O'Brien, all entered the match underdone or sore.
Captain Nick Maxwell was playing his first game since breaking his thumb, Heath Shaw was back from an eight-week gambling suspension, Leon Davis missed last week with hamstring soreness, Chris Tarrant hurt his ankle in that match and Alan Toovey was playing only his fourth game since breaking a finger.
Added to that, All Australian nominee Ben Reid was a late withdrawal with a groin injury, leaving the Magpies terribly undersized against the Eagles' tall forwards.
"I personally reckon it was probably one of our gutsiest performances since I've been at the football club," Malthouse said post-match.
"I say that on the back of six backline players, one of them has been relatively free of injury, and the others have either had an injury, been suspended, or are carrying an injury.
"And there's no Reid, and they've kicked nine goals.
"So I reckon it was an outstanding performance by those players."
Malthouse admitted it was a risk to carry so many players with question marks into the game.
But, with a win secured, they'll all now have an extra week to recover before a preliminary final against Hawthorn, St Kilda or the Sydney Swans in a fortnight.
"I reckon every one of those backline players will [need the week's break]," Malthouse said.
"Second-up now doesn't become an issue; second-up becomes a training run on Saturday morning.
"We took the gamble that we could scramble over the line and get these players another week's rest."
But Malthouse didn't inspire great confidence that Reid would be fit for the Magpies' next game, saying only, "I'm not too sure," when asked if the 22 year-old would return.
