So when do we buy players?
When they are at their peak, like Moses Mbye? Anyone remember how he was "ripping it up" in a Bulldogs side coming dead set last, him getting 750k there and then 750k HERE! (sure subsidised for 1 year) then the form dip. We buy players at the peak, they will go down a little OR a lot. Buying at the peak though is top $$$. BJ Leulia, Russell Packer comes to mind as well.
When they are at the bottom? I.e. a player sucks and we take them here and turn them into a good player. Sure they are "cheap" at this stage. The main player that comes to mind is Braith Anasta when we signed him, although he wasn't at the "suck eggs" stage of his career.
The best time to buy IMHO is when we find a player who is "mid" performance and we identify a weakness/point of improvement that we can coach in. I.e. Gareth Ellis, very strong forward but did not pass. Sheens coached in passing and scoring over the try line. BOOM!
Gareth Ellis was not "mid performance" when he came here,in tests against Australia he was the best forward on the field despite the score and that was before he arrived.