It would have looked a foolish one, too, had the Dockers made the most of the 211cm man mountain's dominance.
But Hinkley backed his side's speed and ball-winning ability at ground level and the gamble paid off as the Power zipped home to seal a seventh win of the season.
Subbing Brent Renouf, who was a late inclusion for Matthew Lobbe (calf soreness), at three-quarter time left Jackson Trengove and Justin Westhoff to ruck for the last term, and the stats are proof of their effectiveness to create contests.
The Power won the centre clearances 6-0 in the final quarter and won 16 inside 50s to seven as they turned a five-point three-quarter time deficit into an 18-point win.
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"I believe in the boys' run, I know they can really keep going; we respect Aaron – he's an enormous ruckman – we didn't think we were going to influence ruck contests that much by having a ruckman there," Hinkley said.
"He's a big man and gets his hand on the ball most of the time and the most dangerous part about him is he can give you that big spike outside, that 20-30m hit.
"It was a bold call (to sub Renouf) but it was one we were confident that 'Jacko' and 'Westy' would be able to carry that for 30 minutes."
In his 50th game of AFL football Chad Wingard was sublime.
He booted three goals in the third quarter to help his side stay with the Dockers and added another in the final quarter to finish with five.
After taking out the club's best and fairest last season and winning All Australian honours, Wingard's rise to stardom has been quick.
Hinkley said he had seen enough young talent during his time as an assistant at Gold Coast to know the 20-year-old's pursuit of his best wouldn't falter.
"Chad's a great player who's going to get better, I know he's going to get better – that's a given," he said.
"I've been around some really talented players in my time and that's great that I've been able to experience that, only thing I will say is that if you drop off you won't get where you want to go.
"Chad won't drop off."
Port again clinched top spot with Saturday's win over Fremantle and will enter its bye week after its best-ever start to a season.
But Hinkley said the club still had better football to play, saying that as well as the Power were travelling, they were still a young, developing unit.
"We're entitled to keep improving because we are a side that's still developing, we're still on the track of what we're trying to achieve," he said.
"Our players have got to continue to improve because we're not at that stage where we're a fully matured team … we've still got to keep getting better so when we do get to that point we can make everything count."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry
"I believe in the boys' run, I know they can really keep going; we respect Aaron – he's an enormous ruckman – we didn't think we were going to influence ruck contests that much by having a ruckman there," Hinkley said.
"He's a big man and gets his hand on the ball most of the time and the most dangerous part about him is he can give you that big spike outside, that 20-30m hit.
"It was a bold call (to sub Renouf) but it was one we were confident that 'Jacko' and 'Westy' would be able to carry that for 30 minutes."
In his 50th game of AFL football Chad Wingard was sublime.
He booted three goals in the third quarter to help his side stay with the Dockers and added another in the final quarter to finish with five.
After taking out the club's best and fairest last season and winning All Australian honours, Wingard's rise to stardom has been quick.
Hinkley said he had seen enough young talent during his time as an assistant at Gold Coast to know the 20-year-old's pursuit of his best wouldn't falter.
"Chad's a great player who's going to get better, I know he's going to get better – that's a given," he said.
"I've been around some really talented players in my time and that's great that I've been able to experience that, only thing I will say is that if you drop off you won't get where you want to go.
"Chad won't drop off."
Port again clinched top spot with Saturday's win over Fremantle and will enter its bye week after its best-ever start to a season.
But Hinkley said the club still had better football to play, saying that as well as the Power were travelling, they were still a young, developing unit.
"We're entitled to keep improving because we are a side that's still developing, we're still on the track of what we're trying to achieve," he said.
"Our players have got to continue to improve because we're not at that stage where we're a fully matured team … we've still got to keep getting better so when we do get to that point we can make everything count."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry
