"Obviously we didn't play very well last week and it was very disappointing, and people were circling and even some of our supporters jumped off a bit, which was also disappointing," he said at the MCG after the match.
"I think they showed character with the way they played and being able to not let last week's result engulf them, and with a lack of finals experience, to be able to do what they did and bounce back like they did.
"We proved tonight that we should be at least in the top four.
"I think the players didn't want to let that slip."
Eade said he was banking on being able to run over the top of the Swans after watching their hard match in the wet against North Melbourne last Saturday night.
"We just thought with the bigger ground, with our run ... they had a tough game last week, we were up there watching it and it was a tough and physical game," he said.
"We thought if we could slog it with them for a half, we would probably be able to run over the top of them.
"That was our focus."
He said he was pleased with the Dogs' intensity against a proven finals performer, with his side winning the tackle count 66 to 54.
"I think that showed it's all a state of mind," he said.
"When you put pressure on the opposition or you go hard at the ball or you want to make a contest or you want to run hard, it doesn't take talent. It just takes state of mind.
"For whatever reason, that's been inconsistent over the last seven or eight weeks. It hasn't been completely gone; for three quarters of most games, we've been okay.
"But it was there en masse today."
The Bulldogs will now meet Geelong in a preliminary final next weekend.
"Anything can happen in a two-horse race. You can't beat them if you're not there," Eade said when asked if his side can win.
"We'll go in with, and rightfully so, no one picking us, and that's fine because they're a great team.
"But anything can happen and there will be no pressure on us from that aspect.
"We've just got to play our way and back ourselves."
