Hinchcliffe, a
Temora Dragons junior, began his
NRL career at Parramatta, although he previously played for the
Canberra Raiders before moving to Melbourne, with whom he won the
2009 NRL Premiership. This premiership was later stripped in 2010 due to the club's multiple and deliberate breaches of the salary cap between 2006 and 2010. Hinchcliffe was a and could also play in the
second row. He joined the
Melbourne Storm from the
Canberra Raiders for the
2009 NRL season. In Melbourne his impressive form resulted in reshuffles with
Cameron Smith moving to five-eighth when lacking halves. Hinchcliffe won the Storm's Player of the Year Award in 2010. In 2012, he played in their
premiership victory over
Canterbury-Bankstown. Five months later, he played in their
2013 World Club Challenge win over
Leeds. In 2011 Hinchcliffe made his representative début for NSW Country and was again selected for the side in 2012. On 22 June 2015, Hinchcliffe signed a 3-year contract with
Super League team
Huddersfield Giants starting in 2016. On 4 September 2018, Hinchcliffe announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season. ==Coaching career==