The Power held off the Hawks at Adelaide Oval that night, but have since lost to the Sydney Swans twice, Richmond and Essendon.
Port will fly to Perth on Friday afternoon before taking on Fremantle on Saturday for a place in the top four.
Hinkley said that although the Power hadn't beaten any side in the top eight recently, their form had been solid enough to suggest they could match it with the best.
"We've played pretty well against the good sides, even the Richmond game (round 17) we were one or two kicks from going over them," Hinkley said.
"The Essendon game (round 16), bad kicking [cost us] – credit to both sides they put us under pressure – but we've been in all our games.
"We played Sydney only three or four weeks ago (round 20) in a game that I thought we were right in – right in – and they're sitting on top of the ladder.
"We've got the smallest averaging losing margin in the compeition, I think it's about 12 points over our losses…so I don't see any problems in taking [the best] on."
Hinkley has continually shied away from talk about his club's final ladder position but with a double chance on the line against Freo, he said the atmosphere at Alberton had intensified.
The coach said his anticipation for Saturday's game and the looming finals series had grown as Adelaide's crisp winter had been replaced by the smell of freshly cut grass.
"It's up for grabs - funnily enough it's come down to round 23 and right through the year when people want to talk about where you're going to be, where you're not going to be – that's why you don't buy into it," he said.
"The boys have been really good even through the times when we were just a little bit off our game…certainly this week, you've only got to go outside and you feel it's a bit more exciting.
"The weather's fantastic, it's that time of the year where everyone gets a little bit more excited."
Port's gameplan to topple Freo was relatively straight-forward, said Hinkley - revolving around first use of the football to get it out the back of Fremantle’s press.
Hinkley said the Power’s day could quickly turn pear-shaped if the likes of David Mundy and Michael Barlow found too much of the ball.
"Playing over in Perth is certainly one of the toughest trips you could go on…it'll come down purely to who gets their hands on the ball first," he said.
"Fremantle are very good, big bodied midfielders who are able to get the ball in their half of the ground – if we let them dominate that part of the game…that will mean we're in a bit of trouble.
"Patersons Stadium is actually a skinny ground so it allows you to press with a little more confidence, it's being able to get out the back to that bigger space which is really hard to do."
