Lucas returns after post-season knee surgery modified his pre-season, while Winderlich has finally overcome a serious back problem that could have ended his career.
"We're really excited about having them in for their first games for the year," assistant coach Gary O'Donnell said at La Trobe University on Tuesday.
"Certainly Winderlich has come through now. He has the odd set-back, and the medical staff hold him back, but he's ready to go and we're really excited about it."
O'Donnell said the seriousness of Winderlich's injury, which required a second operation after the first one failed, almost saw the 24-year-old forced into early retirement.
"The first operation wasn't a success and he had to go back in. At that stage we were thinking maybe that's the end of his career," he said.
"It was a fairly serious operation but he's come through now. We really missed his pace last year."
O'Donnell also rated David Myers and Alwyn Davey as "good chances" to play depending on how they train during the week.
"[Davey] is getting close. He's on the verge and is a very good chance. We're just seeing what happens for the rest of the week and we'll be very conservative with him," he said.
"We'll just see what happens in training over the next couple of days."
O'Donnell said the Bombers’ game plan won't be change much from the one adopted against the Western Bulldogs nearly two weeks ago when they face Michael Voss's men on Friday night.
"We'll play a similar style to what we did against the Bulldogs and we're just hoping the guys that haven't played a lot of footy like [Jay] Neagle and [Scott] Gumbleton will get another game of footy under their belts," he said.
He also said the club is expecting a tough match after the Lions put in a strong showing against St Kilda last weekend.
"They were very good, very quick and hard at it," he said.
"They are a reflection of how Michael Voss played the game so we're expecting them to come at us hard at Telstra Dome.
"We're hoping as many Essendon supporters can get there and see the development of a really good side coming along."
Dream Team watch - Scott Lucas is rated a $222,800 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
- Jason Winderlich is rated a $307,100 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
