Nugent under fire over 'childish incident'

Australia's head swimming coach Leigh Nugent has come under fire for reportedly dismissing accusations of misbehaviour by the men's relay team.

Nugent reportedly said to an unnamed coach that "your girls are flirting with the Dream Team" when told the relay team had been allegedly harassing female swimmers and acting inappropriately.

News Limited reported the female swimmers were being harassed with prank calls during the swim team's staging camp in Manchester.

A coach and a senior member of the swimming team approached Nugent the day after the alleged incidents occurred.

The head coach said he now regretted not following up an incident he described as "childish behaviour".

"It didn't raise alarm bells to me, but in hindsight it probably should have raised alarm bells," he said on ABC radio.

"My regret now is I didn't follow it up."

His alleged comments may have related to swimmer Stephanie Rice, who attended Dream Team matches during the Olympics and was seen spending time with USA star Kobe Bryant during a velodrome event.

The allegations are the latest to come out after a report slamming the Australian swimming team's culture as "toxic" was released this week.

The reports of prank calls were not a part of the review, as only five of the 10 coaches involved with the team were interviewed in the inquiry.

It is believed only one of those coaches knew about the prank calls.

Swimming Australia president Barclay Nettlefold said that any incident would be fully investigated by the organisation's new integrity unit.

"If these sorts of things have occurred we will certainly make sure that the Integrity Panel looks into these areas," Nettlefold said.