Ryan Maxwell is keeping Sittingbourne players guessing before the start of the new Isthmian South East season.

The Brickies launch their promotion challenge at home to Broadbridge Heath on Saturday (3pm).

Maxwell has assembled a squad that looks well-equipped to build on last season’s third-placed finish.

There’s big competition for places and, other than goalkeeper Harley Earle, no one is guaranteed a shirt this weekend.

It was a point boss Maxwell made to his players after they completed pre-season with Joe Boachie’s hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Bromley under-23s.

“That was the main message on Saturday,” he said.

“I said no one here has a divine right to start.

“No one is definitely starting other than Harley and that’s the truth.

“Other than that, everyone’s fighting for their spot.

“I know the players don’t know who’s starting just yet, which is testament to all the boys who have performed at a very good level in pre-season, and it’s also made it very competitive.

“I keep it very honest with my players. I tell them exactly where they’re at and what they need to do.

“They’re open and honest with each other and I’ve heard them say they aren’t quite sure what the team will be.

“They just know it’s very competitive and it comes down to things like attitude, timekeeping and how they’ve been around the place since day dot.

“I said on Saturday make sure you give me a real headache going into the first game and, to be fair, they did that.

“Joe Boachie’s the perfect example.

“He was away for a few days and when you go away, you put yourself at risk of going back a place or two.

“I played him in a different role on Saturday - he’s done it once before in pre-season - and he’s done it pretty well.

“So he’s certainly put himself up there for a starting role this weekend - possibly.

“We’ve got some excellent players - players who could easily play Step 3 and some Step 2 - and it’s my job to make us an excellent team. It’ll be an extremely strong 16 we have currently.

“There’s some excellent players who will be on the bench come Saturday and that’s a great position for any manager to be in.”

Maxwell is determined to finish what he started at Sittingbourne.

He briefly left at the end of last season to work closer to his Hertfordshire home but quickly changed his mind.

The Northern Irishman was welcomed back with open arms and now there’s a job to do.

He said: “I’ve come back to a club I’ve got a lot of time for and, the people at the club, I really want to get a promotion for them.

“A lot of the reason I came back was because of that.

“I didn’t want to wait and see what other options there were, I wanted to come and finish the job I started last year.

“When I first came to the club it was about retaining our league status, then it was about trying to get promoted.

“We came close last year and this year I’m making it very clear that major progression has happened since we’ve been here and now I want to go one better. It’s as simple as that.

“The board understand that’s the remit from myself and therefore they support me the best way they can.

“I’m not talking financial, I’m talking about the small things, the professionalism side of things, and they’ve done that.

“The pitch has improved, they’re men of their word, they’re trying, it’s the little things that make a big difference that were important to me and my staff.

“I now have to uphold my bit of the bargain and do everything I possibly can to get this club promoted.”

That won’t be easy, of course, with Isthmian South East a more competitive division than last season, according to Maxwell.

“I think it’s a stronger league,” he added. “I think more teams will take points off each other.

“Other teams have invested and recruited well and you’ve got the likes of AFC Croydon coming into the league who’ve done both.

“I can see it being a lot tighter than it was last year.

“I think there’ll be more teams fighting for play-off spots for longer.”

Sittingbourne have said goodbye to summer signing Elliott Romain, who has moved on for family reasons, joining Three Bridges.

The Brickies will also be without one of last season’s star performers after fellow forward Chris Harris joined Canvey Island.

He’d been concentrating on club cricket over the summer and will be playing his football closer to home.

“We had conversations with him,” said Maxwell.

“He’s become a friend of ours, not just mine but Andrew’s (Marjeram, vice-chairman) too.

“His cricket was his priority this summer, that was obvious, and I kind of ruled him out from that point.

“I haven’t lost him because in my mind we never had him.

“He’s going to be a Canvey Island player and we wish him well.

“He’s in contact, he still speaks to the boys, it’s just his travel on top of a new business he’s started, he couldn’t dedicate what we needed from him and he knows that.

“Canvey’s a lot more accessible to him.”