Māori were the first settlers of NZ. There’s no record of any earlier population being “dinner” for anyone.

Citation needed!

As I understand it there were no Maori before NZ was settled, that culture formed there from the Polynesian"moa-hunters". Some descendants of those settlers became the Maori, but that a different claim.

Furthermore, there are just generally very few records so I think it's very difficult to make definite claims like you or GP do.