It's an extremely popular and fun mod, I would love to have it in my modpack

Please!

yes

People begging for updates won't exactly inspire the mod author to do it. Just be patient, they'll update if they have the time and feel like it.
Meanwhile, there is a 1.20.1 port called "Straw Golem Rebaled: Ported", but the mob AI was still a bit buggy the last time I checked.