This is great news. It's been about 10 years since my last stint in Sydney, and Opal was "coming" or "here", I forget. The ticteting systsem hadn't changed from my several previous trips though.
Still, a daily ticket is $17.80 - which is crazy expensive. And that wouldn't cover the airport. That's another ~$17 on top of that.
So, the ticketing system has improved, but it is still incredibly expensive (as in: more than twice the price of Melbourne).