Yes that ephemeral 'connection' is a key eligibility criteria.
I do feel like it is. It would be like England Picking Brad Shields, it just 'feels' wrong... Oh wait.
But seriously, Quade was an Australian School Boy, Hawera was playing for Waikato, and Southland before 2017, do you not see that as being a point of difference?
Contrast this with a guy like Tupou you listen to him speak and while he hasn't been here for a long time he WANTS to be an Aussie Wallaby, I've never hear Hawera talk about Australia/Wallabies like that.
Plus this all assumes that Hawera is categorically better once all things are considered, than Stewart and/or Mason and I'm not entirely sure of that either. If for no other reason that Mason and Stewart are still very young and giant bundles of potential.